


Sugar, Sugar

by percyyoulittleshit



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Chocolate Store AU, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-05-04 06:52:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14587395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/percyyoulittleshit/pseuds/percyyoulittleshit
Summary: Annabeth Chase doesn't have a sweet tooth, she isn't a big fan of chocolates but there is a small chocolate store that might change her mind. Falling in love in a chocolate store was Piper's love story, not hers but things could change when a green-eyed chocolate maker enters her life.Piper McLean didn't expect to run into the (possibly) love of her life while she was buying chocolates still in her pajamas, but one smile from him and she was a goner. Between dating and working, she still finds time to hang out with her best friends and, even if Annabeth didn't want her to be, be a wingman for Annabeth.





	1. You are my chocolate boy and you've got me wanting you.

**Author's Note:**

> To all the people who had their heart broken in The Burning Maze, this is for you.

Annabeth’s arms were in pain, in all the times going to Disneyland she had never been in so much pain after the park, but she had also never done so many rides in a row with barely any rest in between. They had been celebrating Leo’s birthday and had gone on all the rides he had wanted to do (the boy _really_ loved the Guardians of the Galaxy one, her voice was still a few tones deeper after all the bloody screaming she did on it). She took a bite of her pretzel and let her body relax. It was a cloudy Thursday morning and she and Piper were currently in the sitting area of the San Clemente Outlets after Piper started craving some pretzels.

“You have never looked more like a California girl, Annabeth,” Piper smiled and Annabeth glared at her in response.

“I’m from Virginia, you ass.”

Piper just laughed and tried to steal a piece of Annabeth’s pretzel but she slapped her friend’s hand away. Piper was right, with her black leggings, Disneyland sweater, black running shoes and her hair up in a bun she was looking like the postcard definition of a California girl. Piper, on the contrary, was still wearing the same outfit she used to sleep: Slytherin jogging pants and a black shirt. Annabeth looked around at the stores, they pretty much had the place to themselves and were enjoying the relaxing time before they went back to work the next day, well Annabeth was, Piper still had the next day off. A giant teddy bear caught her eye, it was outside a chocolate store, _Blue Truffle_. Just like the rest of the stores in the outlets it had floor to ceiling windows allowing Annabeth to see the shelves and shelves of chocolates inside.

“I’m pretty sure that teddy bear is a big as you,” Annabeth said to her friend.

“Oh yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.” Piper stared at it while she chewed her last piece of pretzel. “Should I take a picture with it and send it to Leo?.”

Annabeth laughed. “Do it.”

“Nah, it’s dumb.”

“No,” Annabeth grabbed her phone. “Now you have to take a picture with it or I’m driving off and leaving you here.”

“You are a terrible friend.”

“Get up and pose with the bear, McLean.”

Piper rolled her eyes at her and started to stand up, only to sit down again seconds later. “There’s someone working there, I’m not doing it.”

Annabeth looked at the store, through the glass wall she could see a blond guy working on some chocolate apples. “Maybe he is gonna smile and pose for the picture too.”

“Sorry Chase, that picture is not happening, I’m not gonna embarrass myself in front of him.”

“Well, we can wait until he moves.”

“Or we just forget it and not take the picture,” Piper said and then cursed under her breath. Annabeth followed her friend's eyes, Piper had been looking at the guy the whole time and now he was looking back at her friend, giving her a small smile.

“Oh man, he caught us,” Annabeth said between laughs. “Do you think he feels like he has to make the chocolate apples sexily now?” Annabeth said the next words in a deeper voice. “That beautiful girl is looking at me, I need to impress her. ”

“What the hell, Annabeth, you are spending too much time with Leo, also your male voice sucks.”

Annabeth shrugged and took some sips of her coke, finishing the drink. “Well, the pretzel is gone and so is the coke so it’s time for us to go.” She stood up and picked up the trash to throw it away, Piper hummed in agreement, and Annabeth looked at her friend who was trying to drink from her glass but kept missing since her focus was on the blond guy, smirking Annabeth said. “You know what? I should probably buy some chocolates to have in the house. What do you think, Pipes?”

Annabeth wasn’t sure how her friend didn’t hurt her neck by the way she just turned her head. “I was not checking him out.”

“Right, that’s why you look like a deer caught in the headlights.” Annabeth started walking towards the closest trash can that was conveniently outside the chocolate store. “I never said you were, I just said I should probably buy some chocolates.”

Piper looked back at the store. “They are probably still closed.”

“Only one way to find out, after you McLean.”

Annabeth pointed to the door and Piper sighed before walking towards the door and lazily pushing it, the door didn’t move “See? Closed.”

“You pull it not push it, you genius.” To prove her point Annabeth opened the door and walked in.

The store was empty, the blond guy was nowhere to be seen. “Well, now that we do need him in the store he is not here,” Annabeth mumbled and started to look around. The shop wasn’t big, most of the space was taken up by rows of rows of different types of chocolates looking absolutely delicious. Pretzels, apples, marshmallows, cookies, all covered with different toppings. She noticed more often than not the chocolate had a dash of something blue, from sugar to sprinkles to icing, it was really prominent in some and more subtle in others. She was examining some truffles when she heard a male voice.

“Ah! The milk chocolate rocky road cluster, one of the best options we have.”

Blonde guy was standing behind the counter in front of Piper and Annabeth almost laughed at the way her friend was just openly staring at him, the guy seemed to find it amusing because he smiled at Piper, who blushed before giving a hesitant but sincere smile, a smile Annabeth knew meant that Piper really liked what she was seeing.

“Then we’re taking some of it too!” Annabeth said and Piper glared at her, making Annabeth stuck her tongue at her.

Chocolate guy, Jason according to his tag, asked her how many and started talking with Annabeth about the chocolates she was buying and which were the tastiest ones, during the small conversation Annabeth could see the guy’s eyes drifting to where Piper stood and she could swear he was blushing. Annabeth paid for her chocolates and turned around to see Piper, who was still standing dumbly in the same place looking at Chocola-Jason, his name was _Jason_.

“Is there something that caught your eye, Pipes?” Annabeth asked innocently and by the glare her friend gave her, she understood the double meaning.

“No, I’m fine.”

Annabeth was about to leave the store when a voice stopped her “Um, excuse me, miss!” Chocolate was talking to Piper, he was still behind the counter and he looked nervous, he had a chocolate in his hand. “On the house.”

Her friend smiled and shyly took the chocolate from his hand. “Thank you so much.”

Jason smiled at her. “I hope to see you soon, madam.”

“Piper, I’m Piper.”

“That’s a lovely name.”

Annabeth kind of wished she had some popcorn, or at least her coke to keep drinking because she felt like she was watching a movie or something. Chocolate guy and Piper weren’t moving, instead, they were standing smiling at each other in such an adorable way that Annabeth was starting to get uncomfortable. She decided Leo needed to be informed about this and took her phone to snap a picture, she forgot the fact that her phone wasn’t on silent and a loud click was heard in the store, breaking whatever spell Jason and Piper were in.

“Oh shoot I thought it was in silence,” Annabeth said to herself trying her best to not look embarrassed but since she was already too far into the situation to backup, in a loud voice she said to Jason. “Oh, well don’t worry we are probably gonna come back soon, really soon, like tomorrow soon.”

Piper looked like she really wanted to punch her and before Annabeth could run away Piper mumbled a goodbye to Jason, grabbed Annabeth’s arm and pulled her outside the store. “I’m gonna murder you, Chase.”

Annabeth laughed. “It’s payback for all the lame blind dates you tried to set me up with,” She took her car keys from her bag and started walking towards the parking lot. “But! We’re coming back together and we are gonna keep coming until you get a date with Chocolate guy, there was seriously something going on between you two.”

“You can’t even come back tomorrow!” Piper opened the passenger side of Annabeth’s Mini Cooper. “You have work.”

“Oh no.” Annabeth started the ignition. “I guess you have to come alone then or maybe ask Leo to come with you?”

“Yes, let me bring Leo while I try to hit on this guy, best idea ever.”

Annabeth cringed and started driving. “Yeah, never mind forget I said that.”

***

Annabeth came home from work the next day to find a bag of chocolates on the table and Piper sulking on the sofa eating a caramel apple while petting Annabeth’s dog, _Latte_.

“Pipes? Are you okay?”

“He wasn’t there today.” Piper took another bite of the apple and Annabeth had a little trouble understanding what her friend was trying to say. “Instead there was this other dude and he was super unimpressive and not Jason.”

Annabeth laughed and sat down next to her friend, Latte jumped onto her lap and Annabeth petted him. “I’m sorry you couldn’t see the chocolate boy, wanna go tomorrow?”

Piper squinted at her. “Are you gonna tease me if I say yes?”

“I wouldn’t be your best friend if I didn’t, but I also wouldn’t be your best friend if I don’t try my best to make you happy, and that guy makes you happy even if I don’t believe in love at first sight.”

“It’s not love at first sight, it’s a silly crush” Piper left her apple on the table. “But I just _know_ that something good could come out of it, I’m not sure how to explain it.”

“Like if you are Moana and he’s the ocean?”

Piper grabbed a chocolate from the table and threw it at her. “I fucking hate you”

“Who is Moana and what’s up with the ocean?” The sliding door that opened to their small backyard was open and their friend Leo was standing there.

“Are you ever gonna knock? Or you know, use the front door?” Piper asked.

“If I haven’t in the last year what makes you think I’m gonna start now?” He walked towards their fridge and grabbed a coke like he lived there.

Leo was their best friend who was kind of unofficially the third roommate. While Annabeth and Piper shared a house a few blocks away from the ocean, Leo lived with his mom in an apartment above the auto shop they owned downtown; but since Leo was in their house more often than not, most of the time eating their food or making them food and fixing everything he could get his hand on, almost all of their friends were surprised to find out that Leo didn’t live with them and the girls just stopping correcting them.

“Piper is Moana and the dude from the chocolate store is Jason and he _callllllsssssssss_ her.”

“Oh, the guy from the picture you sent me?” Leo sat down on the floor in front of them. “They were totally doing heart eyes at each other.”

Piper gasped and looked at Annabeth. “You sent him the picture!?”

“Of course I sent him the picture, he’s _Leo_.”

“Exactly, he is _Leo_.”

“And he is sitting in front of you hearing this conversation, also do I need to remind you, Pipes, that I have been your best friend longer than Annabeth?”

“ _Hey_!” Annabeth said indignantly.

“It’s true and you know it,” Leo said at the same time Piper said, “He has a point there.”

“I don’t like either of you.” Annabeth went to the kitchen to put Latte’s dinner in his food bowl, while Latte happily followed her. Latte was the rescue Corgi she adopted not long after she moved to San Clemente and almost ran him over with her car.

“So what’s the story with Chocolate guy?” Leo asked.

“There is no story to tell.”

Annabeth ignored Piper’s reply. “He works at the chocolate store in the outlets.”

“There’s a chocolate store in the outlets?” Leo asked, surprised. “Why were you guys there in the first place?”

“Remember how I was gonna buy a pretzel in Disneyland and I didn’t?” Piper said to Leo.

“Yeah.”

“Well the craving never went away and the outlets have Aunt Annie’s.”

“THERE’S AUNT ANNIE’S IN SAN CLEMENTE!?”

“Yes dude, go out more often,” Piper said and took another chocolate from the table.

“Are you telling me that all this time I was driving thirty minutes to Irvine for one.” Leo looked at them in shock. “When there was one five minutes away from my house!?”

“The drive is not that bad Leo, I do it almost every day for work.” Annabeth finished fixing the dinner for Latte and walked back into the living room. “Anyway this guy literally couldn’t stop looking at Piper and she was shamelessly staring at him and I was the third wheel who just wanted some chocolates.”

“You only wanted to buy chocolates to annoy me!” Piper exclaimed.

Annabeth ignored her again. “And now Piper has a crush on this guy who totally has a crush on her.”

“You don’t know that,” Piper said quietly.

“And today she went again to the store and he wasn’t there so now she is sad.”

Piper huffed. “There was this dark haired guy instead and I ended up buying too much chocolate to drown my pain of not seeing Chocolate guy.”

“You know what you need Pipes?” Leo stood up. “French fries and you know who has the best fries in town?”

“You only want to go to _Calypso’s_ because you have a crush on the owner.” Annabeth looked pointedly at her friend. “You know she has a girlfriend right? I think she runs a workout boot camp.”

“Oh my god, yes! Reyna!” Piper said. “She is beautiful and strong and scary. I almost died when I tried her boot camp.”

Leo glared at them. “I just want some fries, Annabeth you are driving.”

“What else is new?” Annabeth followed her friends out of the house and started walking towards her car.

“You know Reyna can probably kill you, right?” Piper said happily to Leo who only pushed her in reply.

***

“I’m so mad at myself for becoming addicted to these chocolate things,” Annabeth said the next day after she parked the car. It was a Saturday morning and the Outlets were packed making it really hard to find parking, Annabeth would have left if it wasn’t because she could feel the energy Piper was radiating, the dark-haired girl had been pretty much jumping in her seat since the moment they left their house. “I have never tasted a chocolate like this one, and don’t get me started on the marshmallows.”

Piper laughed. “Well, at least the buying chocolate stuff is no longer an excuse.”

“I’m gonna go broke because of this.”

“Says the trust fund kid.”

Annabeth faked a gasp. “Shut up, your dad is an Oscar nominee.”

The walk to the _Blue Truffle_ took them longer than usual (and by usual Annabeth meant the last time she was there) since they had to park far away, Annabeth could _feel_ Piper trying to contain herself to not run towards the store. After having dinner last night they went back to the house to play video games and distract Piper, around the sixth Smash Brother fight Annabeth realized she had almost finished the bag of chocolates, she didn’t have much of a sweet tooth so she couldn’t hide her surprise when she almost devoured a full bag of sweets.

“He’s here!” Piper squealed in her ear, almost leaving her temporarily deaf. They were a few steps away from the store but like the last time, Chocolate guy was standing near the window dipping some apples on chocolate. “Okay, be cool McLean, you got it, you are gonna talk with him and hopefully you’re gonna get his number.”

Annabeth smiled at her friend’s antics, as much as she teased Piper she found the way her friend acted around Jason adorable. Annabeth didn’t have many experiences with crushes, there had been Luke Castellan when she was little. She used to spend her summers at a camp making a mess of herself in front of the older boy, after another unsuccessfully crush in high school there had been a few times she tried fooling around during college but to be honest, she felt she was doing it more trying to live the ‘ _college experience_ ’ everyone talked about (but she didn’t really seem to understand) than them being actual crushes. The moment she realized she felt more joy finishing an essay than having someone trying their best to stick their tongue in her throat was the moment she started living her romantic life via Piper, who actually enjoyed dating and loved telling Annabeth all about her crushes.

“I’m pretty sure you just need to smile at him one more time and he is gonna be yours.”

Piper smiled at her gratefully. “Wish me luck?”

“You don’t need luck.” Annabeth gently pushed Piper towards the chocolate store. “Go get him, tiger.”

Piper took a deep breath and walked into the store, she could see Jason almost dropping an apple before walking towards her friend, a huge smile on his face. Annabeth stayed outside for a little bit, giving her friend some privacy before walking in, not that it would have made a difference, Chocolate Guy only had eyes for Piper (who was definitely in flirting mode).

“Do you think I should fire him for flirting on the job?”

Annabeth turned around to see who the source of the voice was and found herself face to face with a guy. He was smiling at her and Annabeth forgot how to speak. He looked around her age with tanned skin, a mess of black hair and eyes the same color as the ocean that was just down the hill. He was resting against the counter and his smile started to shrink with every second that passed with Annabeth just staring at him.

“I wasn’t going to fire him, I was joking.” The guy said and Annabeth just blinked at him her body forgetting how to work. Instead of like acting like a normal human and replying her brain decided to make her remember Piper’s words from last night: ‘ _He was super unimpressive and not Jason_ ’. Annabeth could understand how he was not like Jason but there was nothing unimpressive about this guy he was cute, _handsome_ cute and he was currently looking at her with confusion.

“She is my best friend,” Annabeth said and she mentally smacked herself.

The guy laughed. “Good to know, is there something I can help you with, Miss?”

“Annabeth, I mean my name is Annabeth.”

She could see the guy trying his best to suppress a laugh and Annabeth was seriously kicking herself mentally, it looked like her brain had forgotten how to act around him. “Nice to meet you Annabeth, my name is Percy, now what I can do for you?”

She managed to embarrassed herself in front of Percy a total of five times in the short amount of time she spent on the store, she hoped Piper was too busy talking with Jason to realize. She couldn’t even understand why she had acted like that, she had seen guys more handsome than Percy before and she had no problem talking with them but with Percy, it was like if he was the first guy she had ever seen. Annabeth didn’t react like this to boys, no matter how cute they were and yet here she was, making a freaking mess of herself in front of a guy who was trying _and_ failing to hide his amusement towards her.

After paying for her chocolates (and dropping the change) she left the store, since more customers had arrived and Jason was forced to actually work Piper was already waiting for her outside, every hope that she had of Piper missing her interaction was lost the moment she saw the shit eating grin on her face. “So my dear Annabeth… karma is a bitch, don’t you think?”

Oh, she was _so_ screwed.

 


	2. When I kissed you, I knew how sweet a kiss could be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper scored Jason's number and a date. Annabeth is still a mess but also a good friend and Leo is here to do whatever Leo does.

Piper had gotten Jason’s number and a front row seat watching Annabeth make a mess of herself in front of Jason’s coworker. She had never seen Annabeth act that way in front of anyone, more often than not everyone’s first impression of Annabeth (Piper included) was ‘s _he is already planning how to kill me and get away with it’_. By the time Annabeth finally left the store, after managing to crash into the door, Piper was grinning at her friend.

“So my dear Annabeth… karma is a bitch, don’t you think?”

“Don’t you fucking dare, McLean.”

Annabeth was blushing and she looked so out of it that Piper actually kept quiet, giving her friend some time to clear her head, and anyway Piper had some thoughts of her own, she looked at her phone where it was still open on Jason’s contact information. _Jason Grace_ he had typed. She smiled at her phone, fighting the instinct to text him that moment, it’s not that she was trying to play hard to get, she had asked him for his number after all, it’s just that he was currently at work and she didn’t know if he was allowed to text and if he wasn’t she was gonna go crazy waiting for a reply.

“You said he was unimpressive.” Annabeth’s voice broke Piper’s train of thought. Annabeth had parked the car on their street and was turning the engine off.

“What?”

“The other guy, you said he was unimpressive, that was not unimpressive Piper.”

Piper tried to remember how the other guy looked but if she was being honest, her attention had been on the blond Blue Truffle worker, she just remembered tall, dark hair and lean “Oh, he’s okay, I guess?”

Annabeth gave her a look and got out of the car. Piper followed trying to hide her amusement. The guy had seriously affected Annabeth in a way she had never seen, by the way she powered walked towards their house, Annabeth was still affected by him. When Piper entered the house Annabeth was already in the kitchen drinking a can of her favorite sparkly water.  

“Hey love, are you okay?”

The blonde girl put the can on the counter. “Yeah, just flustered. I can’t believe how badly I embarrassed myself in front of him.”

“Yeah, you were a total mess,” Piper said and Annabeth glared at her. “What!? It’s true! If it makes you feel better he was really loving the interaction.” Piper gasped. “Oh my god, if you get his number too...maybe we can go on a double date!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Piper, you said it the other day, I’m the definition of a California girl, we are in California, I bet he sees a lot of girls like me at work every single day and after the scene I made there is no way he is going to show any interest in me.”

“At least you made sure to make a remarkable first impression.”

Annabeth was about to say something back but stopped, her eyes widening. “Wait, ‘ _his number too_ ’ Oh my god! You got Chocolate guy’s number!?”

“His name is Jason Grace, not Chocolate guy and hell yeah I did.”

“Holy crap, look at you! I bet you were really _graceful_ about asking him for his number.”

“No.” Piper pointed her finger at her. “You are not gonna make puns about it.”

“You better get used to it because once I tell Leo there’s no way for you to make it stop.”

“No, you’re not!”

“Are you gonna tease me about Percy?”

“Who’s _Percy_?”

“Chocolate guy, no wait, _Jason Grace’s_ coworker,” Annabeth smirked at her.

“Then yeah, I’m gonna tease you about it! You were a _mess_ , my friend, you are never a mess in front of guys, the hell I’m passing up this opportunity.”

“Then I’m telling Leo.”

“Rude! But fair.” Piper said and Annabeth laughed and walked towards their living room, throwing herself on the couch.

“Have you texted him yet?”

Piper unceremoniously threw herself on the other end of the couch, putting her legs on Annabeth’s lap who slapped them away.

“No, I’m waiting until it’s later in the day and he’s out of work.”

“Why? Just text him now so he can see the message after his shift ends.”

“I guess I can do that,” Piper grabbed her phone and pretended to type. “Hey, Jason my friend wants to know if your coworker is single.”

“ _Piper!_ ”

Piper laughed. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding.” She looked at her phone and bit her lower lip. “Do you really think I should text him now?”

“What can you lose?”

Annabeth was right, Jason already knew she was interested in him, she came back to the store only two days after seeing him from the first time (technically one day but he wasn’t there the second time and probably doesn’t know.) She asked for his number and he happily typed it in her phone, it was not gonna make a difference to him if she waited to text, so before she lost her courage she typed a simple ‘ _Hi! It’s Piper_ ’ and clicked send.

She didn’t have to wait long for a reply. Annabeth had made her play Mario Kart with her, knowing it would take her mind off her phone for a while, and after Annabeth called a snack break, Piper wasn’t gonna pretend her heart didn’t flutter when she went to check her phone and realized Jason had texted her back.  

*** 

Piper had been texting with Jason for a few days now and there were two things she was absolutely sure of: he was a dork and she liked him even more with every single text he sent her. More often than not she found herself giggling at his texts and daydreaming about him. Since spring break was over and she was back teaching first grade, that week she only went to the chocolate store a few times with Annabeth, who tried her best to avoid Percy (who still tried to talk with Annabeth even if the poor blonde could only manage to say a few words without stuttering and Piper found it hilarious every single time.)

It was that Thursday when Jason finally asked her out. She hadn’t planned on going to the chocolate store that day but Annabeth had been craving a pretzel and she didn’t want to drive so she made Piper drive her to the outlets. Annabeth was waiting for her pretzel in the shop next door and Piper had decided to see if Jason was working and maybe have a quick talk with him.

“No friend this time?” Percy had asked the moment she walked into the store, there was no Jason in sight but Piper had some hope he was working in the back.

“She decided a pretzel was better than chocolate.”

Percy gasped and put his hand on his chest. “The betrayal! We have pretzels too.”

“You don’t understand her love for Aunt Annie’s,” She covered half covered her mouth with her hand, pretending she was saying a secret. “She gets really pissed if an airport doesn’t have one.”

Percy snorted. “If she loves them so much why we haven’t see you guys before? Our store is next to the pretzels.”

Piper leaned into the counter, since Annabeth wasn’t there, there was nothing stopping her from being her wingman. “You will have to ask her if you want an answer.”

“Maybe I will.” Percy winked at her. “Anyway, what can I help you with? Some chocolates? Some pretzels covered with chocolate?”

“Actually I was looking something quite specific, you see...tall, blonde, beautiful blue eyes and really handsome.”

“Ah! I think I have one of those left in the back, let me go check.”

Percy went through the door to the back and Piper was left alone waiting for Jason, her stomach decided to release hundreds of butterflies knowing she was about to see him. Piper loved that feeling, the anticipation of seeing your crush, not being able to stop smiling, the little adrenaline rush her body had. The moment she saw him come through the door smiling at her the feeling only duplicated. Was it her or he was getting more handsome every time she saw him?

“Piper! I didn’t know you were gonna visit me! I would have made Percy do the inventory instead.”

“It wasn’t planned, Annabeth is currently buying a pretzel.”

“Actually she is currently outside.” Jason pointed to the door and Piper turned around. Annabeth was sitting at the tables enjoying her pretzel, when she saw Piper looking at her she only waved her hand, letting her know she could take all the time she wanted.

“Oh well, look at that,” Piper said and Jason chuckled.

“Hey, Piper,” Jason said, his cheeks a little red. “Are you doing anything this Sunday?”

Piper’s heart started to beat faster and the butterflies in her belly were doing a weird type of dance. “I have a fun day filled with laundry and cleaning.”

“Do you think your laundry could let you free for a few hours, maybe in the evening around dinner time?” His cheeks were absolutely red now and he was laughing nervously.

She smiled at him. “Depends for what.”

“For dinner.” Jason said and after a beat he added. “With me.”

Piper was sure she was smiling like an idiot but she didn’t care. “I guess my laundry can wait.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

They stood there smiling at each other for who knows how long until Percy came back. “I’m really sorry to break this moment.” He wrapped his arms around Jason’s shoulder. “I truly am, but I need your handsome fella to go back and keep doing the inventory or we are gonna close late, and we are gonna be late for dinner, and my mom is not gonna be happy with us. But being the amazing manager I am I’ll give you time to say bye.” He clapped Jason’s chest and walked towards the shelf.

“Thanks bro.”

“Dinner? Is this some roommate stuff?” Piper asked and Jason nodded. One of the first few things she had learned about Jason was that he and Percy were roommates.

“I will tell you on Sunday.” Jason leaned on the counter and gave her a kiss on the cheek, making her blush. “I’ll text you about our date.”

Piper might have giggled a little when he said date but seeing his bright smile made her not embarrassed about it. He waved goodbye and disappeared through the door to the back room  she happily sighed and faced Percy, who was smiling at her. “No chocolate for me today, we still have some at our house.”

“Well, now you are gonna have more.” Percy handed Piper a small bag. “Chocolate covered pretzels for you and Annabeth, on the house.”

 “Oh you shouldn’t have! Thank you!”

“Enjoy your date!”

“Oh! I’m sure I will” Percy laughed and Piper waved goodbye to him before walking out of the store.

*** 

“Jason is taking me to the Fisherman’s,” Piper said the next day and Annabeth winced. “What!? It’s a nice restaurant.” 

They had gotten frozen yogurt and now they were walking back to their home, Piper had a really crappy day at work and Annabeth had offered to buy her some froyo to cheer her up. The weather was nice so they had walked to the small plaza, the walk also had helped Piper relax.  

“With seafood and meat, things you don’t eat.” Piper glared at Annabeth who just shrugged. “But it’s a nice place to take you on the first date.”

“He doesn’t know I don’t eat them.” Piper took a bite of yogurt. “It hasn’t come up yet and the Fisherman’s has food I can eat.”

The blonde smiled at her. “You checked the menu, didn’t you?”

Piper grinned at her. “Before I replied to him.”

“Prepared! Look at you! You don’t want to make him feel bad!”

Piper blushed a little. “I really, _really,_ really like him and he is taking me to a nice restaurant so I think he likes me too.”

“Of course he likes you! Look at you, you are wonderful and the best catch, he is gonna be so lucky to date you! Now if he still wants to go out with you after he hears your terrible jokes, then you gotta keep him.”

“ _Ohhh_!” Piper laughed. “Fuck you, I’m hilarious, you are the one without a sense of humor!”  Even if Annabeth wasn’t looking at her, she could _feel_ Annabeth rolling her eyes at her. “Speaking of! You know who also has a great humor and would love to make you laugh?”

“You have spoken with Percy for less than five minutes in total! You have no idea if he likes me, which he doesn’t.”

“He did give us chocolate pretzels after I mentioned you like pretzels.”

“And he also heard Jason ask you out, he probably wants to be on friendly terms with you since you are gonna date his roommate.”

Piper sighed. Annabeth was right, Percy pretty much treated Annabeth and her in the same friendly way, he seemed to be a friendly guy in general which was great because Jason had referred to him as his best friend and she really wanted to have a friendly relationship with Percy, if she and Jason were to date in the future she definitely didn’t want his best friend to dislike her. Date, just the idea made her ridiculously giddy. Jason had texted late last night giving her the details about their dinner and asking if it was okay for him to pick her up. Piper had been absolutely over the moon and would have spent the whole day in dreamland that day except everything that could have gone bad at work went bad, but just the thought of going out with Jason made her smile all over again.

By the time they arrived to their house, their froyo was long finished or melted.

“Leo is here.” Annabeth said and pointed to the window. Their house was in a corner and the little path to their doorway was also parallel with their kitchen and garage, there was a big window on the wall next to the door that looked into the kitchen where they could see Leo walking around.

“Is he making us dinner? He better be making us dinner.” Piper said and excitedly went to open the door only to find it locked, she cursed a little and unlocked it. “Leoooooo! My friend!! What are you cooking for us!?”

“The door was locked! How did you bypass our security system?” Annabeth said while putting in the code to disarm the house alarm.

“You are forgetting I installed your security system.” Leo grinned at them and went back to cooking. “I’m making you my mom famous _enfrijoladas_.”

“Yes!” Piper exclaimed. “Cheese, beans, and tortillas! Who would think that would make a delicious meal.” 

“Latinos” Leo simply said. “I went to the chocolate store where your crushes work.”

“I don’t have a crush,” Annabeth said at the same Piper said. “Why?”

“First of all, according to Piper you do have a crush and second of all, there is an Aunt Annie’s there and I live five minutes away, how I’m not supposed to go?!”

“You two seriously love Aunt Annie’s.”

“The pizza pretzel is to die for,” Annabeth said and Leo nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, I decided to take a detour to buy some chocolates for my mom and what the fuck, do you have to be insanely handsome and tall and hot to work at that store?”

“Percy is not hot,” Annabeth said and both Piper and Leo gave her a look.

“If you keep saying that maybe you can convince yourself you don’t want to jump him,” Leo said and Annabeth glared at him.

“I hate you and the reason why I’m not kicking you out is because I want your food.”  

“And as long as I keep feeding you, you will never get rid of me, unlike Piper who is stuck with me forever.”

“And I wouldn’t want it any other way!” Piper blew him a kiss. “But can we talk about how hot Jason is?”

“You are a lucky asshole.” Leo started serving them their food.

“He is taking her on a date on Sunday.” Annabeth went to the fridge to bring out their drinks. “ To the _Fisherman’s_.”

“Shit, that’s fancy! Okay, you’re telling me everything.”

*** 

“Should I wear a dress? Heels?” 

Piper was in front on her closet, a bunch of her clothes already discarded on her bed. Her room usually looked like a battlefield but right now it was looking like she was losing WW3.

“Pipes, you were wearing your pj’s when you met him. I’m sure he will like what he sees no matter what you are wearing”.

Piper turned to look at Annabeth who was on her bed sitting over a bunch of clothes. “Okay, true but it’s not like I can go to the Fisherman’s in my pj’s.”

“Not with that attitude.” Annabeth smiled at her friend and Piper threw her a shirt that landed on the floor.

“You are not helping, jerk.” She had been trying on clothes for the past thirty minutes. She usually didn’t care about her appearance but she was feeling nervous about her date with Jason, they had been texting non-stop for the past few days and with every text he sent her, Piper’s interest in him grew and grew. Annabeth was right, Jason had already seen her in her laziest outfit and somehow he had given her his number, but still part of her wanted to stun him, to make him speechless when he looked at her. She grunted in frustration. “This is ridiculous. It didn’t even take me this long to get ready for prom.”

“I thought you didn’t go to prom?”

“Exactly.” 

Annabeth gave her a ‘ _wtf_ ’ look before sighing. “Okay, I’m taking control of the situation, are your black jeans clean?”

“The ones ripped at the knees?” Piper asked and Annabeth nodded. “Yeah...but I don’t think they are good for a first date.”

“Not on their own, wait a second,” Annabeth said and left the room, a few minutes later she came back carrying a shirt. Annabeth had bought it a few months ago and Piper had fallen in love with it, It was an off the shoulder shirt, with laced up sleeves and a ruffled trim, the color was more mustard than yellow and on the rare occasion Annabeth let her borrow it, Piper loved the way it looked against her skin. “Those pants make your butt look amazing and this shirt looks amazing on you.”

“Are you serious? My butt always looks amazing.” Piper said and took the shirt from her friend’s hand. “You are a lifesaver, seriously.”

“That’s what best friends are for.”

It was almost seven o’clock when Jason knocked at her door and Piper’s belly was filled with butterflies.

“Knock him out with your beauty!” Annabeth sing-songed while going upstairs, giving her privacy and Piper was grateful for it. Taking a deep breath she opened the door only to forget how to breathe, Jason Grace was standing in her doorway and he was quite a sight. Just like her, he had gone for black jeans that looked like they were made for him but unlike her bright shirt he had opted for a pale blue button up shirt and a grey blazer, the outfit would have looked too formal if it wasn’t for the pair of black Converse he was wearing. His lips were parted and there was a slight tint of pink on his cheeks.

“Piper, you look, woah.” He managed to say making her smile. Her long dark hair was down and she had applied mascara and nude lipstick to her face.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.”

 Jason smiled at her and extend his arm towards her. “Shall we go?”

“It would be my pleasure.” She took his hand and let him guide her to his car.

***

“Oh my god, you’re a vegetarian.” Jason hid his face behind his hands in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, I should have asked before making reservations here.”

Piper laughed. “Don’t worry, I knew there was gonna be food I could eat!”

They were at the restaurant, waiting for the drinks. The Fisherman’s was located on the San Clemente pier and had a beautiful view of the ocean, a view that was currently more stunning with the sunset starting. Jason still looked mortified, he had asked if she wanted to share shrimp as an appetizer and she had finally told him she didn’t eat any type of meat.  

“Seriously Jason, it’s okay. I’m fine with the fettuccine with vegetables.”

“Okay,” Jason pushed his glasses up his nose. “So Piper McLean you’re a first-grade teacher, not a fan of driving, you love chocolate, your favorite color is teal and you are a vegetarian.”  

Piper laughed. “Yes.”

“Allergic to something?”

“Besides bullshit?” She smirked and when he only laughed in response her heart might have melted a little. “Cigarette smoke makes my throat itch and have cough attacks but nothing too serious.”

“Well, it’s a really good thing I don’t smoke.”

“So, Jason Grace, works at a chocolate shop so I’m gonna assume you also like chocolate, I can tell from personal experience that you are a good driver, favorite color is purple, judging from the fact you ordered the only steak on the menu I’m gonna assume it’s your favorite food.”

Jason nodded in agreement. “I do love a steak, I hope that’s not a deal breaker for you.”

“Are you gonna give me bullshit for not eating meat?”

“Never.”

“Then we’re good.”

“You did get one thing wrong.” Jason started to say only to be interrupted by their waiter bringing them drinks and informing then their dinner was gonna be ready shortly, Jason thanked him and Piper gave Jason some bonus points in her head, a guy who is polite to the waitstaff always gets extra points in her book. “I only work at _Blue Truffle_ part time, I’m actually a substitute teacher at the high school.”

“ _What!?_ ” Piper interrupted him. “Why didn’t you tell me when I told you I was a teacher!?”

“I kind of wanted to save some information for the date?” He said a little shyly.

“You waited days to ask me out after I told you that!”

Jason was really blushing now and he looked a little embarrassed. “I was really hopeful that there was gonna be a date at some point.”

“So was I.” Piper took a sip of her coke. “So what do you teach?”

“I’m a substitute for Latin and English.”

“Well, that explains why your texts have perfect grammar.”

“I do like my grammar but after living with Percy for a year I have come to accept that not everyone is gonna use perfect punctuation.”

Piper laughed. “Well I’m glad my texts didn’t scare you away, I like my abbreviations.”

“And emojis, you really like emojis.”

“See? You already know me so well.”

Piper felt like the dinner went by in a blink of an eye, she and Jason spent most of the time talking and laughing to the point her food was cold when they finally decided to eat. His favorite animal was a wolf and he didn’t know why. Percy had offered the job at the chocolate store after they became roommates, he moved in with Percy when Percy posted he was looking for a roommate in a Facebook group and they thankfully ended up getting along well and became best friends, he got a scar on his lip when he was two and tried to eat a stapler, he was hoping to become a full time teacher sometime in the next two years; those were just a few of the things she learned from talking with him. But there were also the things she learned about him that you can only learn from hanging out with someone, like how he blushes really easily or how he keeps fixing his glasses even if there was nothing wrong with them, and learning about them made her want to know more.

“Do you feel like having some ice cream?” Jason asked after he paid the bill. Piper had offered to pay her part but he had refused.

“Only if it’s my treat.”

*** 

“I’m low-key disappointed you didn’t get chocolate.” They were walking along the pier while eating their ice cream, the moon was shining over the ocean making it sparkle like it was made of diamonds and it felt so magical Piper never wanted it to end. “I’m high-key disappointed you got pistachio, what are you? Sixty?”  

“I’m twenty-four and you know it.” They stopped when they reached the end of the pier and rested against the railing. Jason’s blue eyes looked almost electric under the moonlight. “What I don’t know is how you are gonna sleep after having cotton candy ice cream, don’t you have to wake up early tomorrow for classes Miss Sugar Rush?”

“It’s my favorite Ice Cream flavor!”

“Isn’t it too sweet?”

“My bitterness balances it.”

His laugh was loud and it seemed to echo with the sea breeze or maybe that was Piper’s brain trying to keep hearing his laugh, there was something about it that made you know he was truly feeling the moment. Jason wasn’t shy with his laugh, he didn’t hold back and from what Piper had gathered, that description also worked with Jason. He was warm and he had this aura that let you know he was an easy going guy, there were no hidden intentions with him. Piper was starting to fight the urge to kiss him.

“Can I try it?” Jason asked, his eyes shining with mischief.

“Sure.”

Piper was expecting him to pull a joke but instead, he leaned in and rested his lips against hers. His lips were cold from the ice cream but soft and they felt so right against hers. The kiss was short but gentle and they were both smiling when they parted. 

“So, do you think it’s a good flavor?” Piper asked him.

“I’m not sure, I think I need to try it again.”

Jason started to lean in again and Piper stood on her tiptoes, when his face was only inches away from hers, she said. “Then what are you waiting for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this fic was gonna be all written on Annabeth's POV but my brain refused to write this chapter in her POV and only wanted to write it in Piper's, from now on the chapters are gonna rotate between Piper and Annabeth.
> 
> I already planned the plot of the fic and it hopefully gonna be 9 chapters with one epilogue. I don't know when the next chapters will go up, I'm currently one month away from my last exam ever in med school and it will decide if I graduate or not, so that's my priority but I will still try to keep write when I can.


	3. And I don't want to fight it, I start to blush, baby you are my sugar rush.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth Chase doesn't have a crush on Percy, she totally does not...except she kind of does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out writing this fic is more fun than reading about Arthritis and Lupus but I have no idea when chapter 4 is gonna go up since school is my priority. I hope you guys like it!

Contrary to her friends’ belief Annabeth didn’t have a crush on Percy. She only thought he was handsome, and cute, and had a fantastic smile and a deep voice that made her swoon and okay, maybe she did have a small crush on him but she would never say it out loud, because if she was being honest she wasn’t sure how to deal with a crush. Annabeth Chase didn’t get crushes and she didn’t mean it in an ‘ _I’m better than anyone_ ’ way...she just _didn’t_. Her only experience with crushes was with Luke Castellan, the senior counselor at the camp she went to when she was eleven years old. If Piper thought Annabeth was a mess around Percy it’s a good thing she never saw her around Luke, those were dark time Annabeth didn’t want to remember (On the last day of camp Luke had hugged her goodbye and Annabeth might have almost passed out. After that day Luke went to college and Annabeth never saw him again). After Luke, it took years for Annabeth to have another crush. She had been a junior in high school and Madison Chapman was a senior, she was also the valedictorian and the captain of the soccer team. Madison had been her partner in AP History and maybe it was the fact that she knew Madison was in a happy relationship with the cheer captain that made Annabeth’s crush on her easier but just like with Luke, Madison graduated, moved to college and Annabeth never heard of her again.

After failed dates during college and realizing hook-ups weren’t made for her, Annabeth’s romantic life because nonexistent. Her life had been school and her friends and after she graduated, her life became work, friends and her dog. But now Percy I-don’t-know-his-last-name was in her life mixing things up so Annabeth did the only thing she could do, try to avoid him as much as possible (it would have been so much easier if she hadn’t become addicted to the chocolates he sold and if her roommate wasn’t kind of dating his roommate). If she went to Blue Truffle and Jason was working too, then she would talk with him instead and if Percy was working alone, Annabeth tried to make the interaction as short as possible (she no longer stuttered in front of him which she called progress.) Thankfully for her work had been crazy so she could give all her attention to that instead of daydreaming about sea-green eyes and chocolates, she had been drowning in her work on a Saturday money when Frank had texted her if she wanted to hang out with Leo, Hazel and him.

“You guys do realize Piper is gonna murder us if she finds out we’re spying on her date, right?” Frank asked and Leo shrugged.

“First of all we are not spying on her, Frank, you didn’t even know she was on a date here, and second we are not spying if we don’t know where she is.” Leo wasn’t lying, Piper and Jason were either in Disneyland or California Adventure while the three of them were in Downtown Disney waiting for Hazel to get off her shift and change out of her uniform.

“We can always go to Hispterland to eat,” Annabeth said. The actual name was _Anaheim Packing House_ but it was one of the most hipster places Annabeth had been. Piper and Leo _loved_ it and they usually went once a month.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mulan is currently a guest in the Royal Hall.” A voice said behind them. The three of them turned and were greeted by Hazel’s smile, she was out of her work clothes and was wearing overalls with a white shirt under it. Hazel worked as a Character Host in the parks, meaning she was kind of a bodyguard for the characters, and she worked in the Fantasyland Area which meant she was mostly in charge of the princesses and princes.

“Mulan’s in the park!? Forget Hispertland and Piper, we’re hanging out with Mulan instead.” Leo said and started walking towards the park.

“Are you sure you want to go, Hazel? You just got out of your shift there.” Annabeth asked and the younger girl smiled at her.

“Yeah, I don’t mind plus I’m starving and I have been craving a Turkey leg all day.”

After taking pictures with Mulan they decided to spend most of the day in California Adventure, going on some rides and just walking around. Frank and Hazel lived in Anaheim and with Frank’s working full time in Disneyland on Space Mountain and Hazel’s working part-time while also attending college they didn’t get to see the two that often, so they took every opportunity they had to hang out. Since Frank and Hazel worked at the parks they could enter for free outside their shifts and Leo, Annabeth and Piper had annual passes making the parks their usual hangout place.

“I would love to hang out more but I need to change for my shift,” Frank said, they were sitting outside Smoke Jumpers sharing french fries and chicken fingers.

“Oh, I should probably leave too,” Hazel said looking at the time on her phone. “I need to work on an essay that’s due next week.”

“Aw, man! But we didn’t see Piper!” Leo whined.

“Good thing, that way she won’t murder us for spying on her,” Frank said.

“Not me, I gave her one of my complimentary tickets for Jason,” Hazel said happily. “I have the right to see who I’m using my tickets on.”

“She has a point, we can use that as an excuse.”

“As lovely as that sounds Leo, I have work.” Frank stood and grabbed his backpack.

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna call it a day too.” Annabeth grabbed a few of the last fries. “I have been absolutely busy and haven’t taken Latte on his walks this week. He’s gonna get mad at me, he loves his walks on the beach.”

“Oh no! Yes, you must go to take your baby on his walk!” Hazel said. “I miss Latte.”

“He misses you, too!”

“Does his walk include a pit stop to a certain chocolate store?” Leo was smirking at her and Annabeth was tempted to throw her fries at him.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Chocolate store?” Hazel asked confused. “Isn’t that were Piper’s date works?”

“Yup, but that’s also where Annabeth’s _crush_ works too.”

Annabeth’s “ _I don’t have a crush!_ ” was muffled by Frank and Hazel’s “What!?” “Annabeth has a crush!”

“I don’t have a crush, Frank!”

“I would believe you except that you’re blushing.” Frank was right, Annabeth could feel the heat on her cheeks, betraying her statement.

“This is so cute! Annabeth you have to tell me everything!” Hazel was smiling at her.

“There is nothing to tell! Percy is nice and I don’t have a crush on him.”

Hazel turned to Leo. “Piper has all the details?”

“Yup.”

“Good.”

“I need new friends,” Annabeth said and that only won her a hug from her friends.

*** 

Annabeth had been right, her dog was mad at her. Latte usually ran to the door the moment he heard her walk in but this time he was in the living room sitting on the floor, his back to the door.

“Do you want to for on a walk, buddy? I’m sorry.” The corgi ignored her and Annabeth laid down next to him and started to pet him. “I have been so busy and I’m sorry babe, wanna go for a walk at the harbor? You love barking at the seals.”

Annabeth stood up and the dog followed her movements with his eyes. “Extra long walk today to make it up to you, I promise, and some froyo later?” The word froyo did the trick and Latte was on his feet barking excitedly at the door.  

The drive to the harbor didn’t normally take that long, it was only a five minute drive, but it took longer since she had to take a detour for froyo first. Walking around the harbor always relaxed Annabeth and Latte really loved being there. Sometimes if the little beach area was empty she would let him run free along the sand. She had gotten used to living in her city so easily she somethings forgot that her plan had never been to live in Southern California. She had been born in Virginia but had spent most of her childhood in Boston until her dad had gotten a job teaching in Berkeley and they had moved to San Francisco, but even through all these cities, her goal had always been moving to New York City. But then that goal had changed thanks to Piper.

She’d met Piper at Stanford, she was her roommate and the girls clicked and quickly became best friends and after graduation, they were ready to move to San Clemente together.

“You are gonna move south?” Annabeth had asked Piper during their senior year. “Why not stay in San Francisco.”

“Leo lives there, it’s a small city that I really like and I have lots of good memories there, and I’m close enough to LA to visit my dad without having to fly. Also, it’s like super close to Disneyland, that’s always a plus, you can always come with me.”

“It’s not New York.”

“True, but it’s warm and has an ocean you can swim in almost year-round, and the place has something magical that makes you want to live there,” Piper said. “I’m going over spring break, you should come with me!”

And she did. For the first few days she was still set on New York but the more time she spent with Leo and Piper, laughing at the beach watching stunning sunsets or walking around the harbor at night, Annabeth started to understand what Piper meant about the city having something magical. It was their visit to Disneyland that made her change her mind.

“You know,” Piper had said while they were walking around the park. “Disneyland needs architects too, imagine being the mastermind behind a ride or a new area?”

Piper’s words stayed with her and once they were back at Stanford she’d started googling architecture jobs at Disneyland. Most of them asked for years of experience but Annabeth was fine with that, she could work in a firm for a few years, making a name for herself and then apply for a job at the parks. Annabeth ended up having a really good job offer in Irvine, a city close enough that meant she could live with Piper in San Clemente and drive to work every day.

The house they currently lived in was actually Piper’s, it had been a graduation present from her dad (close enough to him but far enough to not have to deal with anything related to his fame.) Piper had laughed in Annabeth’s face when she had asked about rent ‘ _We can just split the bills, seriously and don’t ask me about rent again or I’m kicking you out_ .’ When Piper had called Annabeth a trust fund kid she hadn’t been joking. Piper’s dad was famous but Annabeth’s family came from old money, like _really_ old money, her great great grandfather had almost been the King of Sweden. If she wanted she could never work a day in her life and still live a really comfortable life in Beverly Hills but Annabeth couldn’t imagine not working. She loved architecture, she loved the thrill of finishing a new model or blueprint, she lived for it and the best thing was that she was amazing at it. She graduated from Stanford with honors. Piper didn’t really have trouble with money either, her father was pretty much Hollywood royalty and she, being Tristan McLean’s only kid, still got a yearly allowance of millions. But if people saw Annabeth and Piper on the street they would never have thought that they had money. They rarely wore designer clothes, feeling more comfortable in things from Target, it didn’t mean they didn’t have designer stuff, Annabeth absolutely loved her Burberry coat, but that type of clothes rarely made it to their closet.  

Latte’s barking brought Annabeth back to the present. He was sitting next to her and barking at her, the clear indication that he wanted to go home and no matter how much she tried, her dog was not gonna walk anymore and she was going to have to carry him back to her car.

Piper was waiting for her when she came home. She was sitting on the couch with a mug in her hands and Annabeth’s mug sat on the coffee table with what seemed to be tea, Annabeth knew it was an invitation to talk, Piper was smiling so the talk was going to be positive and most likely centered on Jason Grace. At the sight of Piper Latte jumped out of Annabeth’s arms and went running towards her roommate who happily picked him up and put him on her lap.

“Why does my dog love you more than he loves me?”

“Because I give him double the treats you do.”

“Well someone needs to keep him on a leash.” Annabeth grabbed the mug and sat down in her spot on the couch. “So, how was the date?”

“Like if you didn’t know already.” Piper was scratching Latte’s ears. “I saw Leo’s pictures with Mulan in Instagram, you were spying on me.”

“You mean Leo was trying to spy on you while Hazel, Frank and I were just hanging out and eating. If it makes you feel better we never saw you, Leo got distracted with Mulan and forgot about you.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Of course Leo would do that.” She took a sip of her tea. “The date was amazing, absolutely amazing. Jason hadn’t been in the park since he was little so seeing him discover the park was just, ugh I don’t want to say magical but-”

“It’s Disneyland, you are allowed to describe it as magical.”

“Good, because it was magical,” Piper said making both girls laugh.

“You went to both parks?”

“Nah, we only went to Disneyland, California Adventure is gonna be later,” Piper said and happily sighed. “We went on rides and walked around and he kissed me during the fireworks and I really, _really_ , really like him.”

Annabeth smiled, Piper sounded absolutely happy, she was totally smitten with Jason and seeing her friend so happy make her happy. “Are you guys officially dating?”

“Nah, this was only our second date _buuuuuuut_ I have high hopes he is going to be my boyfriend really soon.” Piper wiggled her eyebrows at her. “I’m glad you weren’t home because we had a really intense make out session in front of the door.”

“Can you imagine if I was? Just hanging out in the kitchen trying to have dinner only to see you through the window grabbing Jason’s butt, gross, I’m glad I wasn’t home.”

“You’re gross!” Piper replied like the mature person she was and both girls burst out laughing. “Jason is really flat in the butt department though but it’s okay I still like him.” Piper took another sip of her tea and smirked at her. “You know who doesn’t have a flat ass? Percy.” Piper winked at her.

“ _OH MY GOD!_ ” Annabeth groaned. “How did you even know that!? I didn’t know that!”

“He was fixing something on the shelves the other day when I visiting Jason at work and I was just making sure your future husband doesn’t disappoint you.”

“You’re an idiot, and stick to checking out your crush, not mine.”

Piper looked at her with a shit eating smirk and Annabeth realized her mistake. “Possessive, aren’t we? Don’t worry I only have eyes for Jason.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Annabeth stood up from the couch and started walking towards the kitchen “I’m ending this conversation now.”

“No, Annabeth, come _baaaaaack_ ,” Piper whined from the couch. “Don’t leave me.”

“And have you tease me about Percy!? _Hell_ no.”

“I won’t! At least not tonight, I really want to talk about my date.” Annabeth glared at Piper from the kitchen but the brunette looked at her with a poor imitation of puppy-dog eyes. “Please?”

“Fine,” Annabeth said. “But if I’m gonna have to hear about your makeout sessions I’m gonna need wine first, you really don’t hold back on the details.”

***

Going out to have dinner by herself was nothing new in Annabeth’s life, she was sure she held the title of world’s worst cook. After she managed to set soup on fire Piper had banned her from cooking in the kitchen. If there wasn’t frozen food in the freezer and Piper and Leo were nowhere to be seen more often than not Annabeth ended up in a restaurant all by herself having dinner and that night was one of those nights. She had spent the whole day in meetings at work and she’d even had to stay after hours. Traffic had been terrible on her way back, Piper was on a date with Jason, Leo wasn’t answering her texts, and Frank and Hazel were working so that’s how she found herself at Ruby’s having dinner alone trying to calm her bad mood.

It was a chilly May night and Annabeth decided to sit outside at one of the tables with a small fire pit in the middle, she was surprised to find it free since on nights like this those tables were almost never available. She was waiting for her fish and chips when she saw Percy walking in, if she was honest she wasn’t surprised seeing him, Ruby’s was only one shop away from where he worked. What did surprise her was his face, the easy going smile she was used seeing was gone, instead he looked annoyed and a little angry and Annabeth was caught off guard. She was half tempted to text Piper and ask if Jason was okay when Percy spotted her and smiled. She hesitantly waved at him and he took it as an invite to greet her.

“Annabeth! Hi, what brings you here?” He was grinning at her and Annabeth was still trying to understand what had made him so annoyed before that she missed his question. He probably confused her silence with something else because he added, “You’re having dinner, of course, stupid question.”

“Are you okay?” Annabeth asked him instead and it was his turn to be confused.

“...yes?” He said and Annabeth didn’t find his confused face adorable, not at all. “Should I not be okay? Fuck!” His eyes widened, he grabbed the chair closest to him for support and asked in an anxious voice. ”Is Jason okay? Did something happen to him? Where’s Piper?”

“What? No, he’s okay as far as I know,” she replied and she could see Percy’s body relaxing. “It’s just, you looked annoyed, that’s all.”

Percy stared at her. “I’m not annoyed.”

“I said you _looked_ annoyed.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Well, _good!_ ” Annabeth yelled. She was starting to get exasperated with him, part of her thought that was good, realizing he was not the man of her dreams (not that she had dreams about him) could be just what she needed to get over her crush. Percy raised an eyebrow at her and Annabeth took a deep breath. Realizing Percy was not perfect was good, yelling at Percy because she was in already in a bad mood because of work was different. “I’m sorry, my day has been crappy and all my friends are busy and I want to rant and I took it out on you.”

Percy was looking at her curiously, she couldn’t read his face and that made her get annoyed again. As handsome as he was she wasn’t gonna let him make fun of her.  “What?”

“Nothing,” Percy said, he shook his head and pointed at the chair across from her. “Mind if I sit? I was gonna have dinner on my own but since you’re also alone, we can be alone together.”

Annabeth contemplated her options, letting him sit with her would break her ‘ _avoid Percy as much as possible rule_ ’ but talking with Percy, getting to actually know him instead of just the dude who works at the chocolate store could be a good way to get over her crush on him. Plus Piper had said Percy was Jason’s best friend, and by the way things were going with Jason and Piper she had a feeling she was gonna see a lot of Jason, and that probably meant a lot of Percy too. ‘ _I’m doing this for Piper_ ’ she thought, it was a lame excuse and she knew it. Truth was, she _did_ have a crush on Percy and he looked absolutely handsome with his dark jeans and his blue polo shirt. “Be my guest, I already ordered though.”

Percy grinned and sat down in front of her as a waitress brought Annabeth’s lemonade and smiled at Percy. “Hey, Perce! The usual?”

“You know me, Patricia, thank you,” Percy said and the waitress, Patricia, laughed and went back inside the restaurant.

“The usual?” Annabeth asked and Percy smiled sheepishly at her.

“I eat here more often than I should. My mom would disapprove if she found out, so that’s why I come here when she’s not on shift.”

“Your mom works here?”

“No, she works with me, well, technically I work for her,” Percy said and Annabeth raised her eyebrows. He bit his lip, like if he wasn’t sure what to say and it took a little bit until he spoke again. “Mom _owns_ the _Blue Truffle_ , she makes most of the stuff we sell, when Jason is on shift with us and if we’re not busy I spent most of the time helping her with the sweets.”

Annabeth couldn’t hide her shock. “You make most of the stuff there?”  

“Well, me and my mom.”

“Even the marshmallows!?”

“Yeah, those are my specialty” Percy was grinning at her and she was sure she was staring at him with her mouth opened in shock.

“ _How!?_ How do the two of you manage to make so much!? I would be exhausted.”

“Okay, so grandma also helps, she’s our secret weapon. She doesn’t actually work at the store, she only comes to bring her creations and my stepdad helps us in the summer when he is not teaching.”

“A family business, _woah_ that’s amazing.”

“Yup,” Percy said, “What about you? You said you had a crappy day and you’re in professional clothes, where do you work?”

Annabeth blinked a few times, she had been so immersed in Percy’s story that she had actually forgotten her crappy day. Before she could speak Patricia came back with Percy’s drink and Annabeth’s food, they both thanked her.

“I work in an architecture firm, my official title is Designer I so there are still a lot of people above me who like to point out all my mistakes.” She finally said after eating a few fries.  “And today was… not good, just because I graduated only three years ago they think I have no idea what I’m doing when in reality it’s them who have no idea what they’re doing!” She took another breath. “Sorry, like I said, bad day.”

She took a bite of her food while Percy sipped his drink.

“You can rant to me if you want to.” He said and Annabeth looked at him in confusion, he smiled at her, probably because she was still chewing while looking at him. “You said you needed to rant and all your friends are busy, and well, my best friend is dating your best friend so that means that we are technically friends-in-law, you can rant to me if you want to.”

Annabeth smiled at him and, after she finished chewing, said. “Okay.”

“Oh, and that reminds me. I have a resting bitch face, or at least that what my friends say,” Percy said, “when you said I looked annoyed but I wasn’t, that’s just how my face works.”

Annabeth chuckled. “I get it, I’ve heard the same thing about me.”

“If you had told me that before tonight I wouldn’t have believed you, but now? I can see it.”

“ _Hey!_ ”

Percy laughed. “It’s not a bad thing, I promise! It’s a good thing.”

Annabeth wanted to glare at him but he was smiling at her and he had _dimples_ , she was supposed to be getting over her crush not making her crush _grow_. He was not perfect, she knew that no one was perfect but he was sitting in front of her, beaming at her after offering to listen to her rant about work and her heart did something funny. She wasn’t sure what it meant but she decided not to think about it, not when her crush was looking at her like _that,_ like if there was nothing more important than what she was about to say. “Rant time?” she asked.

“Rant time.”


	4. You're the sweetest thing I ever tasted, baby you're my Sugar Rush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper is loving all emotions that Jason makes her feels and all her friends finally hang out together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this chapter awhile before I started studying but I didn’t want to upload it so it wouldn’t be so long between it and chapter 5. Chapter 5 is gonna be up once I take my exam and I can write again because you know, my priority right now is study and graduate.

There was a memory that Piper couldn’t forget and didn’t want to forget. She had been between five and six years old, she and her dad had just moved to LA and it had rained. Piper remembered running around the backyard barefoot, the wet grass feeling so fresh to the touch, the air having the smell after a rainstorm that made you feel fresh and happy, no matter what. She remembered laughing and yelling to her dad to join her, she remembered his laugh while he tried to catch her. That’s the first memory Piper had of feeling absolutely happy. Ever since then, she had loved the after rain feeling. Southern California didn’t give her lots of rain but in a way it made it even more special when it happened, the way the cool breeze felt against her skin, the fresh air filling her lungs. It always made her feel like anything could happen, everything was alright and anything was possible and she was filled with happiness. That’s how she felt everyday after starting to date Jason Grace. 

“Good Morning, beautiful.” Jason greeted her after she finally decided to listen to her alarm clock and wake up, or at least finally open her eyes and acknowledge she had work. He was walking around the room shirtless and Piper was loving the private show. She snuggled deeper into his bed sheets and was surrounded by the mix of his smell and cologne, cocooned in his blankets with a smile on her face she watched her boyfriend look for something around the room. “You’re gonna fall asleep again if you don’t leave the bed.”

“Good thing I have you to wake me up if that-” She couldn't hold back her yawn. “-happens. Why are you awake so early? Did they call you to substitute?” 

“I wish,” Jason said, he was now kneeling and looking for something under the bed. “I have to go to work, some of our suppliers are dropping off some things and the Jackson family are attending Telly’s festival.”

Piper yawned again and moved to a sitting position. “And you are looking for?”

“My other work shirt and I can’t find it, I’ve looked everywhere.”

“Do you have a backup?”

“This is my backup, backup.” Jason sighed and sat next to her on the bed. “And it’s nowhere to be seen.” 

“Oh…” Piper remembered something. “I think I know where it is.” 

“Please tell me it’s in the living room.”

Piper gave him a sympathetic look. “It’s in a living room, the problem is that it’s in _my_ living room.”

“Shit, it was when Annabeth came home from work and almost caught us?” Piper nodded and Jason groaned. “I’m gonna have to use one of Percy’s then, I hope he at least has a clean one.”

Jason kissed Piper’s forehead and went to Percy’s room for his shirt. Piper stretched and finally stood up, grabbed her overnight bag and started getting ready for work. While she had known Jason for almost two months, they had been officially dating for a little over three weeks and she had been walking on clouds ever since. She still had butterflies when she saw him waiting for her after work or giggled like crazy over his texts, they were still in the honeymoon stage and she never wanted it to end. 

“My god, it smells delicious,” she said entering the kitchen. Jason was finishing up pouring coffee into a mug and offered it to her, which she took gladly. She sat down in one of the tall chairs in front of the kitchen island where two plates with the most amazing waffles she had ever seen sat. “You made them?” 

“Nah, I wish, Percy made them and if you think these waffles are the best thing ever, you should wait until you try them fresh instead of reheated.” He sat down next to her and started eating his breakfast. 

Piper looked at him before looking back at her waffle not understanding what Jason meant until she took the first bite. “Oh my god! _How?_ ” The waffle was the perfect combination of crispy and fluffy, if it wasn’t because it also felt a little dry from the reheating, it would have been the best waffle Piper had ever tried.

“The Jackson’s are truly absolutely genius when it comes to food, they make the most delicious food ever.” Jason said between bites of his waffle. “If you think Percy’s food is good you need to try his mother’s, it’s like if you died and went to heaven.” 

Piper nodded and happily finished her breakfast, if this is what she was gonna wake up to she might have to spend more nights at Jason’s (not that the other reason she stayed with him wasn’t good, the sex was _really_ good but when they stayed at her place they didn’t have amazing breakfast like this).

“Do you want me to drop you off at work?” Jason asked once they had finished breakfast and were getting ready to leave. Piper really didn’t like driving and avoided it as much as possible and if his schedule allowed him, more often than not Jason dropped her off and picked her up from work.

“Don’t worry, After classes I’m gonna hang out with some other teachers celebrating, it’s our last week with the chickens.” Chickens was how Piper fondly referred to her class of first graders. As crazy as they drove her from time to time she absolutely loved her kids and was gonna miss them when they went to the second grade. “Plus Annabeth promised Leo we would go to the movies with him.” She didn’t invite Jason to join them and he didn’t ask to come. Annabeth and Leo were a huge part of Piper’s life and as much as she really wanted Jason to be another huge part in her life, she didn’t want to be one of the people who got into a relationship and forgot about their friends. She had lost a few friendships like that in the past and she had promised herself she would never do that. It’s not like Jason wasn’t allowed to hang out with her friends, he had already formally met Leo and Annabeth when the four of them went out for dinner and if they were at Piper’s place Annabeth would usually hang out with them (and kick Jason’s ass in Mario Kart).

“Okay, wanna go for dinner tomorrow?” Jason locked the door to his apartment and they started walking towards their cars.

“See you in Ruby’s after your shift?”

“I’ll be the one in the blue polo shirt,” Jason said making her laugh, he gave her a small kiss. “Have an amazing last week of work.”

“Text you later!” Piper said and blew him a kiss before getting into her car. 

 ***

“ _HE HAS ABS._ ” Was the first thing Annabeth said the moment she walked through the door. “It’s not fair!” 

“Who has abs?” Piper asked from the couch where she was laying and texting Jason.

Annabeth dropped her bag on the table and took off her shoes. Her hair looked like she had run her hands over it countless times and Piper would have thought it was because of traffic or she wanted to murder someone at work, but Annabeth was looking absolutely flustered, and there was only one person who made her best friend get flustered.

“Percy _fucking_ Jackson,” Annabeth replied and as she laid down on the floor allowing Latte to run towards her and lick her face.

Piper sent a quick text to Jason telling her Annabeth was home and changed her position from the couch from laying down to sitting with her legs crossed. “Does he? I wouldn’t know.” Actually, she did know, she had seen Percy walking around shirtless when she had stayed at his and Jason’s apartment. She had wanted to take a picture and send it to her friend but it would have been really awkward since Jason had been next to her. She hadn’t told Annabeth because she had hoped to see the reaction when she inevitably saw his abs (beach days were coming and she was already planning on having a friends day at the beach with Jason and Percy invited)

“You are the worst liar, McLean.”

“How do you even know that, is there something you want to tell me?” Piper smirked at her and Annabeth flipped her off. 

“He started following me on Instagram, I think Jason posted a picture from when we went to Dave and Busters this weekend? And he tagged us and then Percy abs Jackson was following, so I did the most normal thing anyone would do.”

“You stalked him.”

“He is a surfer, and he loves his mom and he has the best abs in the world and I can only think about licking them and what the hell is wrong with me?” 

“Okay, first of all, Jason has better abs,” Piper said and Annabeth glared at her. “And second, yes, I was lying, I have stayed at Jason’s a few times already and Percy keeps forgetting I’m there and walks around in boxers.” Annabeth opened her mouth to yell at her probably but Piper kept talking without giving her a chance to say anything. “I was hoping to go to the beach with you two and see how you guys mutually check the other out, that’s why I didn’t tell you about his abs.”

“You are a terrible best friend.”

“Fuck you, I’m the best friend you’ve ever had,” Piper said smiling at her.

Annabeth groaned. “Yes you are and I love you and I’m so happy to have you in my life, but you should have told me he had abs so I wouldn’t have spat out my drink all over my coworker when I was stalking his Instagram during lunch.” 

Piper couldn’t hold back her laugh. “Okay, I’m gonna take the blame on that but let’s move on about a really important topic, holy crap, _licking_ him!? Who are you and what have you done with the real Annabeth Chase?”

“I don’t know! I want to kiss him and now I also want to touch his abs and I’m having too many fantasies about him and this has never happened before.” She ran her hands over her face.

Piper smirked at her. “ _Sexual_ fantasies?”

“I refuse to answer that,” Annabeth said but the fact that her face was absolutely red gave Piper the answer she needed. “Stop smiling at me like that, it’s creepy.”

“I have never seen you this affected by someone and honestly, it’s the best thing ever.” Annabeth grabbed a pillow from the floor and threw it at Piper who avoided it easily. “But in all honesty, I was planning on inviting him for the dinner on Saturday, I won’t if you don’t want me to.” 

Piper had only two days left of work before the summer break and she was gonna invite her friends over on the weekend to celebrate her finishing her first year as an elementary school teacher. Jason already knew but she was unsure if she should invite Percy too. Just like Jason had started to hang out with her friends, she had also started to hang out with his friends and she really liked Percy. He was funny and nice and he really cared about his friends and the more she hung out with him, the more she really wanted Annabeth’s crush to be reciprocated. She had this feeling they would make an amazing couple but at the same time Annabeth was her friend first and she didn’t want to do anything that would make her friend uncomfortable, so she had wanted her permission to invite him.

The blonde girl sighed and stood up. “No, it’s okay, invite him. He and I- we are in a weird kind of place, I’m not sure if we’re friends yet, but we both decided it would be nice to try since you and Jason are dating and we’re gonna see a lot of the other.” She started walking towards the kitchen and Piper followed her. “He seems like a great guy and I do want to be his friend, it would be easier if this stupid crush would go away.” 

“Aw, love, I’m really sorry this is so crappy.” Piper grabbed a bag of chips and two cans of coke and brought them back to the living room while Annabeth dropped her travel mug in the sink. “Is there anything I can do? If it really bothers you I can stop teasing you about him.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Annabeth said and sat down on the couch. “I think I like having the crush, it’s been so long since I’ve liked someone so much, it’s kind of nice.” She grabbed some chips from the bag. “And it’s not like I’m going to act on it, Percy’s obviously only interested in a friendship and nothing else and I’m kind of okay with that? Because I _do_ want to be his friend.” 

Piper wasn’t sure how to reply so she stayed silent, and by the looks of it, Annabeth wasn’t expecting an answer because she opened her can of coke and started drinking it while telling Latte to bring the ball to play.

“Do you still want to go to Tia Esperanza’s for dinner? We can say you’re not feeling well, she would understand.” Piper finally asked. Leo’s mom had been like a mother to Piper, she had known her since she and Leo became friends in elementary school and Piper adored her. When she met her and had called her Mrs. Valdez, Esperanza had laughed and said ‘ _Call me_ tia _,_ mija _. I have a feeling we are gonna see a lot of each other._ ’ she had never called her a different way ever since.

“And miss her enchiladas? No way.” Annabeth said and smiled at her. “Her food is exactly what I need right now.”

When Piper and Annabeth moved to San Clemente, Esperanza Valdez started to look after them and made them promise to have dinner at her place at least once a week. It didn’t take long until Annabeth also looked up to her, they adored her as much as Esperanza loved them but unlike Piper, Annabeth didn’t call her _tia_. 

“Wait,” Piper said remembering something Annabeth had said. “You spat out your drink on someone? On who? Please tell me it was Octavian.” Octavian was Annabeth’s annoying coworker that everyone hated and it seemed his only purpose in life was to make Annabeth’s life harder. 

“I wish it had been him, that dick deserves it, but unfortunately no, it was Ethel.”

“No, sweet little Ethel!”

“I know! I need to get her something because I honestly feel so bad.” Annabeth finished her coke. “Anyway, I’m gonna get a shower before going to Leo’s place.” 

“Did Percy’s abs leave you _that_ bothered?” Piper asked. Annabeth’s only reply was to flip her off while going up the stairs to her room. Piper turned to watch Latte who was laying on the floor, happily looking at her. “Your mom is an ass.” Latte only playfully licked her foot and Piper got up to give him a treat.

*** 

Saturday night brought a summer storm with it and Piper was planning on forcing her friends to stay for the night if the sky didn’t clear up by the time they wanted to leave. They were all at her place and she was sure her heart made little jumps from joy watching Hazel and Frank interact with Jason and Hazel subtly giving her a thumbs up when Jason wasn’t looking. Another thing she liked was how while Percy was also meeting everyone for the first time and talked with everyone he pretty much always ended up talking with Annabeth. It’s not that she was hoping he would fall for her (except she kind of was hoping for that, just a little) but because Annabeth didn’t make friends easily, it was nice seeing her talk with Percy and see the smiles on both of their faces, it made Piper happy knowing that no matter what happened with Annabeth’s crush on him, they seemed to be on the fast track of becoming friends.

“He seems to really like her,” Jason said and Piper turned around to see her boyfriend smiling at her, he discretely pointed at Annabeth and Percy who were talking in the kitchen while eating pizza. “And by like her I mean he actually enjoys talking with her and he isn’t trying to befriend her for our sake.” 

“I’m glad, Annabeth deserves good friends.”

“Well, she has you as her best friend so no matter what she already has the best friend anyone can have.”

Piper smiled at him and pulled him in for a kiss that he gladly reciprocated, his arms wrapped around her waist and she was about to deepen the kiss when a voice yelled.  

“Gross! Get a room you two, we’re trying to eat here!”

Leo’s comment made everyone laugh. Jason broke the kiss, his face a little red from embarrassment.

Piper laughed. “Fuck off, Leo, you’re only jealous he’s kissing me and not you!”

“If I can’t kiss him, no one can kiss him.” Leo winked at them.

“Don’t steal my line! I live with him, I’m supposed to be the one saying stuff like that.” Percy said and he playfully glared at Piper. “Hands off my man, Piper.”

Piper wrapped her arms around Jason, who was currently a bright shade of red. “He stopped being yours the moment he laid eyes on me.”

Percy snorted while the others laughed, Jason murmured something about needing some water and went to the kitchen, but not before kissing Piper’s forehead. She went to join Hazel, Frank, and Leo in a conversation, everyone seemed to be in a good mood, eating pizza and drinking beer, well, Annabeth was alternating between wine and coke while Jason and Percy were mostly drinking coke. Jason’s mom had died in a drunken car crash when he was little and he had vowed to never drink, instead, he was happy being the sober friend that drove everyone home after a night out. Percy, on the other hand, had told Piper he couldn’t bring himself to like alcohol, no matter how many drinks he had tried, he ended up leaving them almost full and getting a coke instead.

“Piper McLean, you won the lottery with him,” Hazel said once she made sure Jason was not in earshot. “Or well, more like he won the lottery with you.”

“Good, he is amazing, isn’t he?” Piper asked them. “So do you guys approve?”

Hazel nodded happily and Frank said. “You have my blessing to date young lady.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“Have you introduced him to your dad yet?” Hazel asked and Piper shook her head.

“I kind of haven’t told him who my dad is yet, he knows he works in Hollywood he just doesn’t know that….”

“He is _The_ Tristan McLean, the current sexiest man alive?” Leo interrupted her with a smile on his face.

“Exactly, how do I even bring that up?”

“I know it’s a hard topic but I have a feeling Jason doesn’t really care about your dad’s fame.” Hazel wrapped an arm around Piper’s waist. Hazel might be the youngest of them all but in a way she was also the wisest of them all, always knowing what to say to cheer people up and giving the best advice.

“I know, I’m just a little scared, I think, everything has been going perfectly with Jason and I’m scared my dad being famous is going to be a deal breaker.”

“Well if that’s a deal breaker for him then he is the biggest idiot in the world because he is never gonna find someone as amazing as you,” Frank said and Piper smiled gratefully at him. “But like Hazel said, Jason doesn’t seem to be that type of guy, from what I’ve gathered talking to him, he’s crazy about you.”

“Probably already in love with you.”

“Leo!” Piper exclaimed but before she could say something more, Jason, Annabeth and Percy joined them.

“Okay, so according to Annabeth all of you are Disney nerds,” Percy said, his tone was light and amused. He was carrying Latte in his arms and petting him, just like Latte’s owner, it looked like the dog had become really fond of the dark haired boy.

“I said we _loved_ Disney!”

“Same thing!” Percy smiled at her and Annabeth blushed. “How often do you guys go to the parks?”

“Almost every day, I work there,” Frank said. 

“Same but I have fewer hours.” 

“Annabeth, Leo and I try to go at least twice a month so we can justify the price of our passes.”

“Woah.” Percy turned to face Jason. “You forgot to mention that we needed to have an annual pass to join this gang.”

“I’m dating one of them, I don’t need one.” 

“Dating Piper doesn’t give you the privilege, without a Disneyland annual pass you’re out.” Leo said, his teasing tone made everyone laugh. 

Piper looked at her friends, they all had smiles on their faces or were holding back laughs. Seeing all of her favorite people getting along with the guy she was starting to fall in love with, well it was one of the best moments of her life.

“You guys need to pass the initiation,” Frank said. 

“Even me?” Jason said. 

“Especially you.” Piper winked at him and her friends made sounds of ‘ _ohhhh’_

“Oh yeah?” Jason took a step closer to her. “Then I’ll do it.”

Piper smiled sweetly and took a step towards him. “Anything for me?”

“Anything for you.” 

“You guys are making it sound dirty,” Annabeth said and turned to look at Percy. “We were just gonna make you park hop with us.” 

“Yeah,” Percy said. “Keep it in your pants, Grace, or at least wait until we all go to sleep.” 

“I’m gonna make you sleep outside in the middle of the storm,” Jason said to his roommate.

“I’d like to see you try.” 

“Okay, now who is flirting with who because I want to join.”

“Shut up, Leo,” Annabeth said, Leo made a face and she stuck her tongue out at him. “Anyway, I guess we can do an exception and let you guys join our group even if you don’t share our love for Disney.”

“I like Disney!” Percy exclaimed. “But I usually go once a year and it’s on my sister’s birthday.”

“But I do think we are gonna need an annual pass at some point, Perce.” 

“Don’t need to worry, we got your backs,” Frank said. “No need to buy an annual pass or buying tickets if we’re around.”

“Yup, we can sign you in or give you one of our complimentary tickets,” Hazel said and then in a fake whispery voice, she added. “We are not allowed to sell our passes but I don’t think there is a rule about accepting chocolates in gratitude.”  

“Oh we got you absolutely covered there.” Jason winked at her and Percy gave her a thumbs up.

They changed topics after that and the seven of them ended up having a good time talking and joking. Jason and Percy seemed to fit perfectly in their group and the conversation flowed nonstop, the living room was filled with laughs and talking and such a positive energy. Around one in the morning, the storm was still going strong and Piper decided no one would be allowed to leave the house. 

“I think you guys are actually gonna have to stay the night,” Piper said. “There’s no way I’m letting any of you drive back home in this weather.” 

Annabeth looked at Frank and Hazel. “You guys don’t have early shifts, right?”

“Afternoon shift,” Hazel said. 

“Night shift, so I’m cool staying over.”

“Good,” Annabeth said and turned to look at Percy. “You don’t have to open the store in the morning?”

Percy smiled at her and shook his head. “We open late on Sundays and my parents are in charge of it.” 

“Well, then.” Piper clapped her hands. “I guess we’re gonna have a sleepover! Who’s gonna help me with the air-mattress?” 

Their house was a two story with three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. The first floor consisted of their garage, the kitchen, living and dining room and a really, really small backyard filled with Leo’s stuff. Their rooms were on the second floor and the massive room above the living and dining room had been made into a study/game room, and by game room they meant a big sofa with a pull out bed that doubled as a guest bed, a plasma television and all the video games Piper and Leo wanted. The space between the study area and the couch in the game room was big enough for an air-mattress, where Hazel was gonna sleep while Frank and Leo shared the pull out bed.

“Really, I have no problem sleeping on the couch downstairs,” Percy said to Piper and Annabeth for the third time. “And these are more than enough blankets.”

“I’m serious, you can take my bed and I can sleep on the couch,” Annabeth said making Piper snort, Percy only chuckled a little bit and accepted the blankets Annabeth was offering him.

“My mom would murder me if I made you sleep on the couch, especially when this is your house.” He put the blankets next to Latte who was sleeping on the couch. “Does he have a bed?”

“Officially? Yes, unofficially he just sleeps wherever he wants to,” Piper said.

“I can lock him in my room.” Annabeth crouched resting her hands on her knees and in a higher voice started talking to her dog. “Come on buddy, let’s go sleep upstairs and leave the couch for our guest, yeah?” Latte only raised his head to look at her and then lowered it again.

“I love how much he listens to you,” Piper said to her friend making her grunt in reply.

Percy laughed a little. “He can stay with me, I love dogs.”

“Are you sure?” Annabeth asked.

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Okay then.” Annabeth turned off the lights, leaving only the fairy lights on. “If you need anything let us know, don’t worry about waking us up.”

“Or you can wake up Leo, he probably knows more about our house than we do.”

“Yeah, that’s probably true.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine but thank you.”

The three of them wished each other goodnight and Piper and Annabeth went up the stairs.

“Are you really that desperate to have him in your bed?” Piper half laughed, half whispered once they were outside their rooms.

Annabeth glared at her. “I only offered it because I know what you and Jason have been up to on that sofa and now Percy’s sleeping on it.”

Piper laughed harder than she intended to and quickly lowered her voice, Frank, Hazel and Leo were already sleeping across the hall and she didn’t want to wake them up. “Believe me, anything I have done with Jason on our couch is nothing different from what we have done on Percy’s couch.”  Piper wiggled her eyebrows at Annabeth who only rolled her eyes at her, the smile on her face betraying the annoyment she wanted to portray.

“Speaking of which, if you two have sex tonight please try to be quiet, the last thing I want to hear when I’m trying to sleep is your moans, _again_.”

“I didn’t try to be loud on purpose!” Piper started walking towards her room. “But I’ll try my best to not be loud tonight.” With one last wink she entered her room where Jason was already sleeping on her bed, his glasses still on his face, she removed them and put them on her night table. She stroked his hair a little bit admiring how adorable he looked, kissed his forehead and started getting ready for bed.

According to her phone it was a little bit past seven in the morning when she woke up, she felt too awake and knew that even if she tried she couldn’t go back to sleep, the light snores next to her ear let her know Jason was still asleep and he probably wasn’t gonna wake up any time soon. As gently as she could she moved his arm from her waist and sat down on the bed, she had forgotten to close her blinds last night and she could see the grey sky, it wasn’t raining anymore so Piper opened the window and was hit with that familiar smell of wet grass after a rain and just like that her body reacted, this was more efficient than any cup of coffee. With a smile on her face she tiptoed her way out of the room, trying not to wake up Jason, one small peek into the study let her know her friends were still sleeping. She quietly went down the stairs trying not to wake up Percy, Latte had been sleeping on the floor next to the couch but the moment he saw her the dog started to get excited.

“Shhh, calm down boy.” She whispered and slowly opened the front door. She didn’t bother putting on shoes, after all, it had been a while since she felt the wet grass against her skin, with Latte following her she walked to the green area next to her house. The grass against her feet felt cold and the morning chill made her shiver but Piper didn’t go back for a jacket, instead, she stood there taking deep breaths, letting the fresh air fill her lungs. She felt that with every breath a whole new world of possibilities opened towards her, she closed her eyes and let her body be embraced by the tranquility and peace she felt. She could have been there for minutes or hours, she wasn’t sure but after a while, she heard footsteps coming towards her and arms wrap around her waist from behind.

“Hi,” Jason said, he rested his chin on her shoulder, his cheek rubbing against hers.

“Morning.”

Jason kissed her cheek and she felt him straight behind her, Jason loved resting his chin on her shoulders but since he was over six feet tall and she was barely five feet and six inches, he had to crouch to reach her shoulder and she knew it was a really uncomfortable position for him. She rested her head against his chest and she moved her arms so they could be resting against his, she could feel his chest moving and without her realizing her body had matched her breathing to his. They watched Latte run around them, neither of them said anything but in that moment words weren’t needed. Never in her life had she felt more at ease than in the moment and with Jason’s arms around her, with the fresh grass under her and with the cold air against her skin Piper realized one thing that made her smile brightly, she was in love with Jason Grace.  

 


	5. Pour a little sugar on it baby, I'm gonna make your life so sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth has a dream (no, not that type of a dream). Piper and Leo are still her best friends but a certain green-eyed guy is becoming a more prominent presence in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think it would take me over a month to update this fic but a lot of things happened in this month: First of all, I finished med school, this girl is officially a doctor now! Second of it: My best friend flew me over to California to celebrate my graduation in Disneyland. I stayed in San Clemente, California for 10 days so I got a lot of inspiration for this fic and because of it, this is dedicated to my dear friend Lauren, who let me talk none stop about this fic during the trip and keep pointing possible apartments where the boys would live and could afford.
> 
> I hope the waiting was worth it and you guys like this chapter! I had so much fun writing this chapter and is probably one of the ones you guys have been waiting for.

It was a cold and foggy June morning, the ocean breeze felt refreshing against Annabeth’s skin while she ran along The Beach Trail. It had been a while since she had gone for a run and her legs weren’t as fast as she remembered them to be, she knew they weren’t going to be happy with her the next day but she didn’t care. Running was helping her body relax from all the stress her work had been giving her lately, focusing on her breathing helped her clear her head, running was one of the few things that could make Annabeth’s overactive brain shut down for a while. By the time she reached the pier she decided to take a break and sit down on the picnic tables facing the ocean, the fog had started to clear and the sun was trying its best to appear and warm the surfers and the morning swimmers. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, letting the salty air fill her lungs.

Annabeth hadn’t been a big fan of the ocean. Whenever she went on vacations with her family she usually stayed under the umbrellas reading books, or building really impressive sand castles but more often than not she spent most of the time at the pool, that changed when she moved to San Clemente. While she still didn’t go into the ocean as often as someone would think (The fact the ocean in Southern California was cold all year long didn’t help its case), there was something calming about just walking along the beach watching sunrises or sunsets. She had heard a lot of people saying there was not a better cure for anything than the ocean air and she finally understood it. The air around her shifted and she could feel someone getting closer to her, probably a surfer trying to hit on her, it wouldn’t be the first time that happened. She opened her eyes to glare to whoever was trying to talk with her and was about to tell them off but the words never left her lips and her eyes widened, standing in front of her was none other than Percy Jackson.

“I thought you looked familiar!” He said and Annabeth forgot how to speak. She felt heat rush to her face and her heart started racing again, this time not from running, in front of her was not only Percy Jackson but a _wet_ Percy Jackson who had clearly been swimming in the ocean. Droplets of water were dripping from his hair to his face to his chest and to- wow, hello _abs_ , he was wearing black and blue jammers that clung to his body like a second skin, and his tanned skin was shiny thanks to the water still drying there.

“Hi!” she tried to say but she was sure it sounded more like ‘ _ughhhmmmmmhhh_ ’ and then he _smiled_ at her, not the easygoing smile he used almost all the time but his other smile, the troublemaker sarcastic smirk he reserved for his friends and the one Annabeth had wanted to wipe off his face with a kiss since the moment he first smiled at her like that at Piper’s dinner.

“I’m gonna go grab my stuff, is that okay?” He asked and not trusting her mouth she only nodded at him. He disappeared from sight and Annabeth was thankful for it since it gave her some time to compose herself. She had thought the worst of her crush on Percy had been left behind. While there was no way she could hide her blush, she was pretty sure she had been doing a good job at keeping her cool but now she was back to being a blushing stuttering mess in front of him. The pictures from his Instagram hadn’t done justice to his abs, they were even better in person and she was showing insane levels of self-control not to run her hand across them, instead, she ran her hands across her face and groaned.

“Shouldn’t you be at work or something?” Percy was back and sitting down at the picnic table, thankfully he had put on a shirt and was currently drying his hair with a towel.

“It’s my day off, what about you? Shouldn’t you be working too?”

“It’s my day off too since the weekends are our busiest days we rarely get them off.” Percy grabbed his backpack and put the towel on it. “How was your run?”

Watching Percy had made her forget about the main reason she was at the beach: taking a break from the run that had made her sweaty, _really_ sweaty and probably a little stinky too, she closed her eyes and grimaced making Percy laugh.

“Was it that bad?”

“No, it’s not that.” She wasn’t going to tell him that she hadn’t wanted him to see her like that, it’s not like Annabeth cared much about her looks but there was something about her crush seeing her in a post-running state that was not a nice look on her. She knew it, Piper knew it and Leo liked to point out how much she looked like a tomato after her runs, so she settled on an answer that was the truth, just not for his question. “I haven’t gone on a run in a while and my body is not happy with me.”

Percy grimaced. “Yeah, that has happened to me when I don’t swim for a while, it’s not fun.”

“I’m half tempted to take the trolley back to where I parked.”

“I can give you a ride if you want but we have to walk a little to my place.”

Annabeth felt heat rush to her cheeks at the offer, she cursed her body for being able to blush at the slightest thing. “No! It’s okay, really I’m just being lazy.”

“Okay then.” He started to stand up. “I’m going to the Bagel Shack, swimming always makes me starve, do you want to come?”

Annabeth considered her options if she declined she would go home and pretty much do nothing, but if she said yes she would spend time with her crush and kind of friend-in-the-making. Sure, she would rather have a meal with Percy at a time when she didn’t stink and was a sweaty mess but she actually enjoyed his company, not only because of her crush on him but also because he was a fun person to be around.

“Sure, but let’s take the trolley.” 

*** 

“Okay, you weren’t joking when you said Annabeth only eats frozen food,” Jason said to Piper while Annabeth filled her shopping cart with food. They were at Ralph’s doing their grocery shopping and Jason had gone with them saying he would help with snacks since he usually ate most of them when he was hanging at their place. Annabeth and Piper had refused his help with the snacks but had agreed to him coming with them.

“If you think this is bad wait till we go to Trader Joe’s, every single premade food is gonna be bought.”

Annabeth glared at Piper. “That’s a lie.”

“Honey, we both know the only lie here is you denying your eating habits.”

“They are not that bad.”

“You’re right,” Jason said and Annabeth smiled at him. “They’re not bad, they’re terrible.”

Piper broke out laughing while Annabeth looked at Jason with her mouth opened in fake hurt. “You are not allowed in my house anymore, and you know what? I take back my refusal, go and buy me some chips.”

“And help you with your terrible eating habits? Maybe I can help you change that.”

“If you bring me veggie chips I’m gonna make Piper break up with you.”

Jason only laughed in reply and left the aisle to pick out some snacks.

“Babe! Bring some microwave popcorn too!” Piper yelled at his retreating form and then faced Annabeth. “You’re not really gonna make him pay for the snacks, right?”

“Of course not,” Annabeth said and picked up some frozen waffles and threw them into her cart before moving to the next aisle. “He’s the first boyfriend of yours that I actually like.”

“My exes weren’t _that_ bad!”

“Your ex-girlfriends weren’t bad, now your ex-boyfriends are a different story, Leo and I almost threw a party when you started dating Jason.”

“I know, Jason is one of the good ones and I still can’t believe he’s dating me.” Piper threw some vegan cheese in Annabeth’s cart.

“Hey, no.” Annabeth put the vegan cheese back on the shelf. “He is the lucky one because you are dating him.”

“We’re both the lucky ones.” Piper grabbed the vegan cheese back and put it in her basket. “Actually his birthday is coming up and I need your help with his present.”

Annabeth stopped walking and turned to look at Piper. “I’m listening.”

*** 

“You’re late,” Piper said the moment Leo sat down in front of them.

"Not my fault, Hazel’s stepbrother keeps bringing his motorcycle to the shop complaining about it not working but no matter how much I check it, I can't find a problem."

“Make your mom help him next time.” Annabeth took a sip of her water. They were at Buffalo Wild Wings having their monthly dinner. The tradition had been started by Piper a few years ago because Annabeth and Leo tended to lose track of time when they were working on projects. While Piper still saw the two of them separately there were months where she barely managed to see the two of them at the same time and had made them promise to at least to try to get together once a month for dinner. Annabeth was glad, Leo had been her first friend in San Clemente (besides Piper) and even with his annoying habits, he had quickly become one of her best friends. Annabeth loved hanging with them and now, no matter how busy they were with their life, they always made sure the last Monday of the month was reserved for dinner together.

“And miss the opportunity to work on a Harley? Hell no.”

“I still don’t know why you don’t get a bike if you love them so much,” Piper said.

“It’s because he can’t reach the ground when he’s on one,” Annabeth said and Leo flipped her off.

“Fuck you, it’s not my fault I’m not abnormally tall like you or Piper’s boyfriend or your crush.”

“We are all normal sized, thank you very much, Frank, on the other hand, can be categorized as abnormally tall.”

“I mean,” Piper said while looking at the menu, Annabeth didn’t understand why Piper kept looking at the menu, she always ordered the same thing every single time they ate there. “You guys are a little bit tall.”

“Or maybe you’re a little bit too short.”

Leo was about to reply when the waiter came and took their order. “Whatever, going back to the topic, at least I’m not going to have to deal with him and his  nonexistent bike’s problems by the end of the week.”

“Oh yeah, you’re going to México for your cousin’s quinceañera,” Annabeth said.

“Yeah, we’re actually gonna stay a little bit longer because Ma booked us a train trip across some mountains, but don’t worry Pipes, I’ll still be back in time to help you with your surprise for your man.”

Piper clapped happily. “Excellent, I’m so excited I can’t wait for his birthday.”

“I hope you’re that excited for _my_ birthday,” Annabeth said jokingly.  

“Since your birthday is not gonna end up with me hopefully getting laid, then no I’m not excited.”

Annabeth snorted. “Hopefully what? You are getting laid no matter what.”

“She wants to get extra laid.”

“I’m not going to deny that but I’m also not gonna agree with it,” Piper said winking at them.

“Piper why are you even pretending we don’t know everything about your sex life, you literally called me the moment you finished having sex for the first time.” Leo said and Annabeth almost choked on the water she was drinking.

“She did what!?”

“He’s my best friend! I wanted to talk to him about it!” Piper said. “I would have also called you if I had known you back then.”

“But the moment you were done?”

Piper stared at her. “Oh boy, you haven’t realized I’ve answered some of your calls during sex?”

Annabeth blinked at her. “I have not but I’m also not surprised.”

“Not with Jason though, never when I’m with him.” Piper winked at her.

“Well if that’s not true love then I don’t know what is,” Leo said and stood up. “And with that note, I’m taking a pee break.”

Annabeth turned to Piper the moment Leo was out of sight. “You are totally getting him a Harley for his birthday, aren’t you?”

“No,” Piper said and Annabeth raised an eyebrow at her. “He’s getting it for Christmas.”

***

Annabeth was trying to drown her sorrows with pretzels and coke and maybe she was being a little bit dramatic but she was honestly _so tired_. All she wanted was to go home and take the biggest nap in the world, but her car had decided to have a flat tire and her backup tire decided to be flat too and now she was stuck at the Irvine Spectrum waiting for Jason to pick her up. Leo, who had been her first option to call for help, was flying back from México to LAX and Piper had gone to pick him and his mom up from the airport. she had almost sobbed when Piper told her she couldn’t pick her up. Annabeth had been working like crazy on a new project and because of meetings she had worked on Wednesday, her usual day off, and now it was Saturday afternoon and all she wanted in life was to be in her bed and sleep for five months. Thankfully Piper had gotten a hold of Jason and now he was on his way to give her a ride back home. She took another sip of coke and looked at her watch, it had been over an hour since she had gotten out of work, she had just rested her face against the table in defeat when she heard a familiar voice.

“That bad of a day?”

Annabeth raised her head to see Percy Jackson standing in front of her looking absolutely gorgeous smiling at her in his black jeans and blue polo from work. In different circumstances, she probably would have been a blushing mess but she was too tired and her brain didn’t want to function.

“You’re not Jason,” Annabeth said and Percy laughed.

“Sadly no, but I’m here to take you home.”

“Oh? Was he busy?”

“No I-” Percy cleared his throat and Annabeth could have sworn his cheeks became a little bit red but in the current state her brain was in she wasn’t sure because why would he blush? “I offered to come and pick you up.”

“Oh.” Well, now _she_ was blushing. “Thank you, that’s so sweet.”

He shrugged and sat down in front of her. “It’s nothing really, that’s what friends are for, right?”

“Yes, friends, right, of course, we are friends.”

“You don’t sound very convinced,” Percy said in a teasing tone and Annabeth got a little bit of adrenaline rush.

“ _No!_ I mean yes, we’re friends, you are my friend, thank you for being my friend.” Annabeth looked at her half-eaten pretzel and sighed. “I’m so tired, my brain’s not working right, should we leave now?”

“Um, actually there was an accident on the freeway and traffic is terrible.”

Annabeth looked at him and the way he cringed she knew she looked absolutely miserable. “I hate my life, I hate my car and I hate this pretzel, actually no, that’s a lie, I love this pretzel but I hate my life.”   

“Can you handle staying here for forty minutes?” Percy really looked sorry like it had been his fault there was traffic and they were stuck in Irvine for a little bit longer.

She wasn’t sure if the sound she made was a snort or a sob, probably a mix of both. Annabeth was about to ask him to drive them back so she could sleep in the car but she decided against it. Percy had offered to pick her up even when he really didn’t have to and as tired as she was she wasn’t gonna let him be stuck in traffic while she slept. “I’m gonna need caffeine and a pit stop to get a massage.”

“A massage?”

“You can get one too!”

“What?”

Annabeth covered her pretzel and put it in her bag. “Follow me.”

Brookstone was officially a gadget store, but they also sold massage equipment with free demonstrations and Annabeth and Piper usually ended up there more often than not when they were at the mall. While Annabeth was sitting on the massage chair getting a free sample and letting her body relax, Percy was browsing the store, or at least that was what she thought. Instead, when her massage demo finally ended Percy was sitting outside the store with an iced coffee in his hand, he stood up the moment he saw her.

“You said you needed coffee, I wasn’t sure what you like but this is what you got at the Bagel Shack.” Percy offered her the coffee and Annabeth took it from his hands while he started to pull sugar packets from his pockets. “I wasn’t sure what type of sugar you liked so I brought a little bit of everything.”

Annabeth grabbed a packet of plain sugar from his hand and smiled at him. “Thank you so much, Perce.”

“I think this is the first time you have ever called me that.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize, I won’t do it again if it bothers you.”

“No, it’s the contrary.” Percy took a step closer towards her and she felt her knees go weak. “I don’t mind, at all. I’m actually glad you did because, see? We _are_ friends.”

“I had already told you that.”

He smiled at her. “You didn’t sound convinced, now I truly believe it. Now, do you feel better?”

Annabeth nodded, the massage had actually helped her relax and her body wasn’t killing her anymore. “I’m not going to pass out any second now, so I call that an improvement.”

“So, would it be okay if I get a pretzel?” He grinned at her, and he looked like a little kid trying to get away with something and while he looked adorable, Annabeth ended up laughing.

“Lead the way.”

They had ended up sitting at the same table Percy had found Annabeth at earlier. Percy bought a pretzel but he had barely touched it, he would take a bite of it and then speak for five minutes about his work or his family before taking another. Annabeth hadn’t had the opportunity to meet his mother, but hearing him talk about her and the stories she had heard from Jason and Piper (who had met her when she picked up Jason after a shift) she really wanted to. Annabeth had noted a change in their conversation, while previously they had been mostly about her work and their friends, occasionally talking about his life, now Percy was truly opening about his life to her. If he wasn’t talking about his mom then he was talking about his younger sister, Estelle, who he absolutely adored.

“So,” Annabeth said after taking the last bite of her old pretzel. “Excluding Jason, your life is pretty much your work and your family.”

“Pretty much! Well, and the ocean too, and chocolate, for example, my ex, Ben, wasn’t a big fan of chocolate and that kind of put a strain on our relationship, I mean my life is almost one hundred percent chocolate related.”

“ _Ben_?” Annabeth asked confused.

“Yeah,” Percy said, his tone more reserved. “I’m bisexual.” Annabeth could hear the ‘ _You have a problem with it?’_ unsaid in the way his posture changed, he was sitting straighter, she could see the tension in his shoulders and in his jaw, his face didn’t have any hint of a smile, it looked harder, somehow.

The last thing she wanted was to make him think she had a problem with it so she hurried and said, “I am too, kinda.” Annabeth’s confused face was mirrored in Percy’s face. “I mean, I like boys and I like girls but it’s really hard for me to feel attracted to someone, so I guess I struggle with if I should identify as bi or demi and I’m still working on it but all I know is that there is no way I’m straight.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Annabeth looked at Percy, his posture had changed again but this time it was a more welcoming one, he was leaning against the table towards her, his eyes looked gentler and there was a little bit of worry in them. “There’s not much to say, honestly, my own personal experiences make me incline more to demi but I also feel connected with the term bisexual.” Annabeth shrugged and drank some of her coke, not wanting to continue the topic because as much as she liked Percy she wasn’t close enough to him to pour her insecurities and feelings to him, _yet_. “So, how could Ben not like chocolate? I kind of understand because before trying the ones you make I wasn’t that much of a fan and would only eat dark chocolate but now I’m addicted.”

Percy raised his arms in the air. “Right? Like I could be very biased, but I think the chocolates we make are some of the best and he never liked them! At all!”

“Not even the marshmallow ones?”

“Not even them!” Percy dropped his hands to the table and squinted at her. “You really like the rocky road cluster one, don’t you?”

“Piper keeps buying them and Jason keeps getting them for her because it’s kind of their chocolate but somehow I’m the one who ends up eating them,” she said making Percy snort. “But there are also the caramel ones with pieces of waffle that taste like heaven.”

“Right, but you didn’t like chocolate before trying the ones we sell.”

“I’m sure you guys put something in them to make them so addictive.”

“The secret ingredient is love.” Percy pointed at the last piece of his pretzel. “Do you want it?” Annabeth shook her head and Percy devoured it. “Have you ever eaten the waffle bar cold? You put it in the fridge and when you bite it the caramel is hard and it’s like an explosion of flavor in your mouth.”

“Oh, shit. I need to try it.”  

“You do.” Percy started to stand up. “I think by now the traffic should be gone, do you want to go now or do you want to walk for a little bit?”

Annabeth was still tired but the massage and the coffee had given her a second kick of adrenaline, she accepted his offer of walking around the open mall. Percy probably noticed she was still tired so he was the one doing most of the talking. Annabeth was happy just listening to him, there was something warm about his voice that made her feel like she could listen to him talk for days non stop. He was also more open today and she had learned more about Percy than she had since the day she met him. With every fact she learned about him, either from something he told her or because she was getting to know his mannerisms from hanging out with him, the more she liked him. She couldn’t say she was falling in love with him, she liked him, a lot, and her crush only grew with every interaction but they had literally just started to become good friends. She had realized something _was_ changing between them. She wasn’t optimistic enough to think Percy could fall for her, but he was introducing her to his life and even if it was as a friend, she was happy he wanted her in his life.

“Do people actually ride this Ferris wheel? I mean why is it here in the first place?” Percy said turning to face Annabeth once they reached the grassy courtyard. “What’s your architectural point of view on this?”

“Ask me again after my brain hadn’t been fried from work.”

Percy snorted. “So not a fan of Ferris wheels?”

“I am, actually! My favorite one so far has been the swinging one in California Adventure.” Annabeth stared at the Ferris wheel. “You know, I’ve been to this mall way too many times and I’ve never in my life thought about getting on it.”

“We should change that,” Percy said and jogged to the ticket booth.

“Wait, Percy, what?” Annabeth tried to follow and stop him but her body refused to move fast enough, by the time she reached him he had two tickets in his hand and was smiling at her. “You’re terrible.”

“Come on, after this, we can drive you home so you can finally rest.”

Annabeth shook her head but followed him, to no one’s surprise there was almost no line to ride and in less than five minutes they were already sitting and going up.

“You really work a lot, don’t you?” Percy finally asked after they sat in silence for a little bit. The Ferris had stopped close to the top so the people at the bottom could get out. “I feel like more often than not when we see each other you’re overworked.”

She sighed and faced him. “It’s-” she started to say but didn’t finish her sentence.

“Complicated?” Percy said softly.

“Not really, it’s quite an easy answer, I want to be an Imagineer.”

Percy blinked at her. “A what?”

“A Disney Imagineer.”

“Yeah, I still have no idea what you’re saying.”

Annabeth laughed lightly. “Sorry, I’m so used to talking about this with Piper and Leo and I’m a getting tired again, so apologies if I don’t make sense. Imagineers are pretty much the main ones behind the magic at the parks.”

Annabeth started telling him about how everything in the parks, buildings, rides, decorations, was thought up and designed by the Imagineers, how her dream is to work as an architect and help come up with and draw up designs from scratch to create new designs for the parks. She would have the opportunity to dream up designs for Disney and then have the challenge of making that dream work with the budget and sizing that Disney gives her.

“Can you imagine being the person behind the magic? Like you are creating this for Disneyland and your work is gonna be remembered and used for years and praised and loved and _ugh_ , I want it so badly.” Annabeth sighed, the high of telling her dream was gone. During the whole ride Percy had never stopped paying attention to her, he had changed his position so he was leaning into his seat listening to her, and the smile she knew had been on her face during her talk was mirrored on his face. There was also a bit of intensity in the way he was looking at her that she wasn’t sure how to decipher.

Percy was about to open his mouth to speak when the Ferris wheel reached a stop at the bottom, their ride had finally come to an end, and only then Annabeth did realize that they had been moving for longer than seemed normal.

“You guys seemed like you were having a serious conversation and there wasn’t anyone in line so we let you ride for a little longer,” The ride operator said once they got out of the cart, they laughed and thanked him before starting towards the parking structure. They walked in a comfortable silence, Annabeth was starting to feel tired again and she knew she was gonna end up asleep in Percy’s car before they reached her place.

“Oh,” Annabeth said once they reached his blue jeep. “I never actually answered you.”

Percy opened the door for her. “What do you mean?”

“The reason why I work so hard.” She said while getting into the car.

“It’s because you want to be an Imagineer.” Percy got into his seat and started his car.

“Yes but also because I found out about Imagineers too late in college and I didn’t get to do an internship for them, now I need to work as hard as I can to prove to them that I belong there.”

Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed it, Annabeth’s heart started to overwork with it’s beating. “You belong there, I know that, and I also know that you’re gonna end up getting your dream job.” He held her gaze for a few seconds after speaking, he gave her hand one last squeeze before moving his hands to the steering wheel and starting to drive. “But for now, you should probably sleep. I’m sorry I made you stay here longer than necessary, I’ll wake you when we get to your place.” He quickly smiled at her before focusing on his driving.

Annabeth closed her eyes, not because she was gonna fall asleep, but because she needed a few seconds to process what Percy had just done, her heart and lungs were in overdrive and she was trying to calm herself down. Excluding the quick one arm hugs he gave sometimes to greet her or say goodbye, Percy had never really touched her before. Her skin was burning from his touch and she was sure her face was burning too. She had wanted to keep talking to him, but getting her body to calm down while she was already tired and finally managing to rest against the seat had been the perfect combination to lure her to sleep and before they hit the freeway she was fast asleep.


	6. His kiss is sweeter than an apple pie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Jason's 25 birthday and Piper has a day filled with surprises, but some might not go the way she had planned them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally gonna be posted on July 1, but life had different ideas.

The music was loud, the ac was blasting, the sun was shining and the ocean on her right seemed infinite. Next to her Jason was driving and singing along to her playlist, with his blue plaid shirt and his black sunglasses he looked like a dream come true. Piper smiled while she recorded him for her Instagram story, she clicked the setting for close friends, this moment was for his friends and for her, to have a reminder of that moment and how happy she felt and most importantly how happy the birthday boy was. They were in route to San Diego and so far that was all Piper had told Jason, she had been planning his birthday for almost a month and now they were on the way to the big event. The night before he had celebrated with his friends from High School and she met them from the first time, Dakota and Gwen being the ones she spent most of the night talking to, and that morning they had been late for his birthday breakfast with Percy, Leo and Annabeth (Leo being the one listing all the reasons why they had been late and the blush on Jason’s face had given away why) but now she had him all to herself and she was hoping it would be a day he wouldn’t forget.

“When am I finally going to know where I’m driving to?” Jason turned down the radio volume.

“Just follow the GPS!”

“Is it a nude beach? Are we going to Mexico? Should I have brought my passport?” Jason asked again making Piper laugh.

“Yes, a nude beach in Mexico, that’s absolutely the place where we’re going.”  

“I knew it, you know me so well.”

Piper snorted and playfully hit him on the arm. “Shut up and drive.”

“Uff, my favorite song, really Pipes, I’m amazed by how well you know me.”

“You know what?” Piper grabbed her iPhone. “This is for you, birthday boy.” Rihanna's _Shut up and Drive_ could barely be heard under Jason’s laugh and Piper’s voice who was singing it at the top of her lungs, intentionally hitting all the wrong notes making Jason laugh even harder.

***

“The Zoo,” Jason said once he parked.

“Surprise!” Piper yelled. “We can see Koalas and Pandas and Red Pandas.”

“Shit, they have red pandas here?” Jason asked excitedly.

“They do!” Piper smiled seeing her boyfriend being so excited warmed her heart. She had been nervous about the day thinking that maybe she didn’t know Jason as well as she thought, that he wouldn’t enjoy spending his birthday at the zoo. Percy had assured her he would love it and that all Jason wanted was to spend time with her, but now, with Jason swinging their intertwined hands as he dropped animal facts while they walked to the ticket booth, she knew she had gotten it right.

Piper knew Jason was a nerd, that had been one of the first things she had learned about him (hell, most of the time he dressed like a history teacher, or like Ellen Degeneres, at least according to Leo but Piper had to admit there was some truth to that) but she hadn’t known how much of a nerd he was until he started telling her facts about animals.

“Koalas actually sleep like 18 hours because the plants they eat, eucalyptus leaves, are absolutely toxic and they are the only mammals that can digest them and because of that, they sleep a lot,” Jason told her while they observed the animals. “Did you know they also rarely drink water? Like how crazy is that?”

“How do you even know that”? Piper exclaimed. “Babe, I knew you were a nerd but damn, I didn’t know this side of you.”

“I usually had National Geographic as background noise when I was writing essays in college,” Jason said, his cheeks going a little bit red. “I am really a nerd, ain’t I?”

“And a massive dork, don’t forget that.” Piper’s hands rested on his shoulders and she stood on her tiptoes. “But lucky for you, I really have a thing for dorks.” She kissed him and Jason, taking advantage of his height, pulled her up and spun them around, making Piper break the kiss from how loud she was laughing.

They walked hand in hand admiring all the different animals, from koalas, leopards, porcupines, flamingos, giraffes, to… “That’s a really weird looking deer.” Piper pointed to the animal that was currently standing on some rocks.

“That’s not a deer, that’s an antelope.”

“Close enough,” Piper said and Jason snorted, Piper walked towards the enclosure and read. “Okay so this is a Klipspringer, so definitely not a deer even if it looks like a tiny fat deer and super adorable.” Piper turned to look at Jason, who had a smile on his face, his eyes were filled with warmth and love.

“You are the best, you know that?”

Piper smiled. “I’ve been told but I love hearing it from you.”

“Of course you do, come on if you think this is a weird looking deer, I can’t wait to see what you think of the capybara.”

Capybaras, turns out, are really weird looking animals and Piper had a field day trying to name all the animals they reminded her of. For every time Jason gave her a fact about an animal, she made fun of another one ‘ _Meerkats are so weird looking and they don’t even look like Timon! Jason, I have been lied to by Disney_.’ Numerous animals later, and after even more laughter they found themselves entering the panda canyon.

“Oh my god, look at that little friend.” Jason said, happiness in his voice. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the red panda, he grabbed his phone and started taking pictures, the smile never leaving his face. “Do you know they have a fake thumb? It’s actually a bone that helps them climb trees and they aren’t even real pandas, they’re their own little thing and I love them.”

“I thought your favorite animals were wolves.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong I love them.” Jason put his phone in his back pocket. “But this little guy, he’s a really close second, I mean look at him, how can you not love him!?”

Piper wasn’t sure about loving red pandas but there was _someone_ she loved, the three words were on the tip of her tongue ready to be said but she bit her tongue instead. She _was_ going to tell him but that wasn’t the right moment, especially not when the people behind them in the line were getting impatient. Jason waved goodbye to the red panda, took her hand and walked them towards the Pandas.

“Okay,” Piper said looking at the time on her iPhone once they left the Panda Trek and were back on the main pathway. “We should probably start walking towards Albert’s for your birthday lunch.”

“What?”

“I made us reservations!” Piper smiled at him. “I told you I was gonna spoil you non stop today, and before you open your mouth, it’s not a big deal, it really isn’t. It’s your birthday, I love you and I want to spoil you and they have a veggie burger I really want to try.” She kept walking but realized Jason wasn’t following her, she turned to motion for him to keep up but Jason was frozen in place, his eyes wide and his mouth open in what she assumed was shock.

Piper quickly thought back to what she had just said, trying to understand what she could have said to get this reaction from him. She cursed herself the moment she realized what it was, just a few minutes ago she had been thinking about her plan for the perfect moment to say those three words to him and yet she just blurted them out in the most casual way, nothing like she had wanted.

“What did you just say?” His voice was low, he was trying so hard not to show any emotion on his face, probably scared that Piper had slipped and didn’t mean it.

But Piper meant it, she had been wanting to say it to him for a while, just in a more intimate place. Jason was still looking at her, waiting for her reply, she could say ‘ _nothing_ ’ and she knew Jason would never mention it again but she didn’t want to. She loved him and that was a fact, just like how it was a fact that Jason sucked at poker because his eyes always betrayed him, they always showed his true emotions just like now, they were shining and filled with so much _hope_ that Piper knew what her answer was going to be.

“I love you,” Piper said gently, she walked back towards him and once she was standing in front of him she added. “I love you so much, I never in my life thought I could love someone this much, but here you are. And this is not how I was gonna tell you, it involved dinner and candles and yet here I am, Jason Grace, I love you.”

Jason looked at her, his face exploding with emotions and quickly closed the distance between them and kissed her. The kiss wasn’t as long and deep as she had wanted, after all, they were still in the middle of a zoo, but it was enough to warm her in a way only Jason could. He broke the kiss, laughing he started to kiss every inch of her face, making her giggle.

“Oh god, I think this is the best birthday I have ever had, I didn’t think I could feel this happy and yet here we are.” He kissed her forehead. “I don’t know what I did and suffered in a past life to have you in my life, but I would do it again in a heartbeat because, Piper McLean, I have never loved someone the way I love you. You are beautiful, and a smart ass, and funny, and kind, and clever and you make my life so much more interesting and happy, you make me happy in a way I can’t understand but I don’t need to because all I need is your love.”

Jason rested his forehead against hers, they both closed their eyes and stayed like that for a while, arms embracing, skin touching, and even if they were in the middle of a zoo, in that moment, it was just the two of them in their own little world.

***

They had taken the Skyway from the polar bears back to the main entrance but Piper’s legs were hurting anyway so Jason gave her a piggyback ride to the car. They had been at the zoo almost all day, joking, kissing, taking pictures of animals and loving the time they spent together, the silly photo booth pictures they took were safe in Piper’s wallet and she couldn’t wait to put them on the mirror in her room, a happy reminder of that day, but now it was time for Piper’s last surprise.

“Now where to, madam?” Jason asked once they left the parking lot.

“Your place, I hope you’re in the mood for food.”

“After all the walking we did today? I’m starving.”

“Good.” Piper grabbed the blanket she always brought with her for car rides and covered herself.

“I’m looking forward to dessert, I have a good idea of what I want.” The way he said it, voice so confident and filled with promises made Piper blush and by the smirk on his face, that was his objective.

“I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.”

With his free hand, Jason grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. “I never am.”

Jason focused on driving and Piper texted Leo and Percy letting them know they were on their way back to San Clemente. She closed her eyes and let herself go back to Jason’s confession, while she knew she had wanted to tell him her feelings, she hadn’t been sure if he was gonna reciprocate them. She’d known Jason cared deeply about her but she hadn’t known if he was in love yet, but he was and he had told her in the best way possible. She had imagined that moment so many times, daydreaming about how he would say it and yet the real deal was better than anything she could have dreamed off.

“Jace? Do you remember when you wanted to watch that new movie about Greek mythology and I said no?” Piper asked nervously, her heart was beating fast, she was finally gonna tell him the one secret she had been absolutely afraid of him knowing, she knew it was time for him to know.

“The one about the Greek gods, right? Yeah, I remember.”

“And you know how I told you my dad worked in Hollywood?”

“Yeah.”

Piper closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “My dad is Tristan McLean.”

The car swayed and just as quickly Jason got control of it again. “Sorry about that.” Jason said and sat in silence for a moment and Piper waited for him to get a hold of his thoughts. “When you say Tristan McLean, you mean _The_ Tristan McLean? The Titan’s Revenge, Furious Overload, Death Kill, One Day Left, A Murder at Midnight, Jesus Superstar, _that_ Tristan McLean!?”

“You’re a fan of _Jesus Superstar_!?”

“ _Piper!_ ” There was an urgent tone in his voice. “He is like, freaking famous.”

“Yeah and he’s also my dad.”

“What the fuck,” Jason said. “What the fuck, that’s crazy.”

“Tell me about it,” Piper said.

“Your dad is a celebrity.” Jason laughed. “God, my mom is gonna haunt my dreams begging me to marry you.”

It was Piper’s turn to be confused, just like Piper hadn’t really talked much about her dad, Jason had barely touched on the topic of his. All she knew is that his dad lived in NYC and he didn’t have much contact with him and that his mother had died when he was eight. “What?”

She could hear Jason’s intake of breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say. “My mom was Beryl Grace known from some popular shows back in the 80’s but even better known by her love of alcohol and her tragic ending, at least that’s how her E! True Hollywood Story described her.”

“Jason...I’m sorry.” Piper was speechless, she had heard about Beryl Grace but she had never really paid attention to her life, she was just another tragic story, another victim of fame.

“It’s okay, really, I barely knew her, most of what I know is because of Thalia.”

Jason’s gaze was focused on the road but when he spoke there were hints of longing in his voice.  “My dad didn’t think mom would be fit to raise me so he took me to New York with him, Thalia was the one that stayed with mom until she passed away. I rarely saw them, just for a few days during the holidays.”

Piper grabbed his hand between hers. “I am really sorry, Jason, but thank you so much for trusting me and telling me this.”

“I love you,” Jason said. “And I want to tell you everything, I’m sorry it took me so long to share this with you.”

Piper was glad Jason had shared his past with her and there was so much she wanted to ask, but she knew that moment wasn’t the time for it. His birthday was supposed to be a happy day and she knew the topic of his past was painful for him, he would tell her more in his own time, when he was ready so she tried to change the topic to a lighter one even if that means talking about her father.

“Hey, my dad is Tristan McLean, I get about it being hard to share parent stuff.” Piper said and Jason snorted and squeezed her hand, grateful for the change of topic. “And I want you to meet him.”

Jason almost lost control of the wheel again, his eyes whiddening while he dropped her hand to control the wheel with both hands. “Why you keep dropping these bombs while I’m driving!? Do you want to kill us!?”

Piper laughed. “Sorry, sorry! We can talk about that topic when you’re not driving” Piper looked at the way her boyfriend was biting his lower lip, he tended to do that when he was trying not to ask something. “You want to ask me about his movies, don’t you?”

Jason looked guilty. “...maybe.”

“Ask away.”

“Are you sure?”

Piper looked at her boyfriend, one of the reasons why her circle of friends was so small was because more often than not people changed the way they treated her once they knew who she was related to. That’s why she was so glad her dad had done everything in his power to hide her from the spotlight, he had managed to give her a happy life away from the fame and she will always be grateful for that. Piper had had bad experiences with exes once they learned who her parent was but she knew Jason wasn’t gonna be one of them. He knew from first hand experience what fame could do to people, for the first time in her life she wasn’t afraid of what would happen to her relationship once he met her dad. For once she was excited and looking forward to her dad to meeting the man she loved. Her dad being Tristan McLean hadn’t changed the way Jason saw her, _loved_ her and that was why she smiled at him and said. “Absolutely sure.”

***

Piper owed Leo, Percy and Annabeth big time, while she and Jason had been enjoying the day at the zoo, her friends were back at his place preparing dinner, in Leo and Percy’s case, and decorating the dining/living room, in Annabeth’s case, so she and Jason could have a romantic dinner and they outdid themselves. Jason’s dining/living room was illuminated with countless fairy lights, making the room glow magically, the wood dining table that was usually plain was covered by a white tablecloth, plates and wine glasses were ready to be used. In the middle of the table was a bottle of sparkling apple cider and next to it a mason jar was filled with more fairy lights. The food Percy and Leo had cooked was in the oven, ready to be served, Piper wasn’t sure what they had made but the house smelled delicious and lastly, she knew that if she opened the fridge she would find a mini birthday cake, courtesy of Sally Jackson.

“Woah,” Jason said once he walked inside the apartment. “Did you do this? How!? You were with me all day!”

“I would love to take the credit but it was our friends, Percy, Leo and Annabeth.” Piper dropped her bag on the couch. “Hazel and Frank wanted to help too but unfortunately they couldn’t change their shifts.”

Jason was looking around the room, probably taking everything in. “Thank you.” His voice was raspy, he cleared his throat and Piper realized he was trying not to cry.

“There’s nothing to thank me for,” Piper walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “They did this for you because of how much they care about you.”

“I just- when I moved here I didn’t know anyone, I got lucky meeting Percy but then you walked into my life and made my it so much better, and then your friends happily accepted me into the group and now I have all these amazing people in my life, and this wouldn’t have happened without you.” Jason looked her in the eyes. “So thank you."

With a little bit of difficulty, he was really tall, Piper got onto her tiptoes and kissed his forehead. “You deserve this and more.”

Jason chuckled. “Do I?”

“ _Yes_.” Piper pulled him in for a kiss, the type of kiss they should have shared back at the zoo after confessing, but now in the intimacy of his house, they didn’t have to worry about anyone watching them.

When they finally parted, Piper walked towards the table. “Come on, let’s have a drink.” She filled the wine glasses with the sparkly cider and handed one to Jason, she raised her glass. “To the birthday boy.”

Jason clincked his glass against hers. “ _To us_.”


	7. Honey honey, how he thrills me, a-ha, honey honey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy and Annabeth keep growing closer as her birthday draws near, Piper is still the best friend anyone can wish for.

Percy Jackson didn’t only make amazing chocolates he was also an amazing cook, Annabeth had learned. When Piper had asked him and Leo to help her make dinner for Jason, Annabeth had thought Percy was going to make the dessert but she had been wrong. He and Leo had worked together and made the most delicious looking pasta, the smell alone had made her belly rumble in need. The original plan was to make it for Jason and Piper but they had made more than enough for them to also eat. Leo had taken some of it home to share with his mom while Percy and Annabeth had gone to her house for dinner.

“Are you sure it’s not a problem?” Percy asked for the fifth time that day while he worked on the vegetables he was cooking for them to have as a side dish. He was moving around her kitchen as if it were the most natural thing and something inside Annabeth was bursting with longing.

“It’s fine, Leo and the others crash here all the time and it’s not like you haven’t stayed here before,” Annabeth said in what she hoped was an easygoing way, like if the idea of Percy Jackson staying the night at her house wasn’t making her blood burn with anticipation. Piper had wanted she and Jason to have a romantic night at his place and she had hoped Percy could stay at their place to give the couple some privacy, she had asked Annabeth’s permission first, not wanting to make her uncomfortable but Annabeth had been okay with the idea. Something had changed with Percy and her relationship for good after that afternoon in Irvine and she wanted to keep getting to know him and talking to him and listening to his laugh. She loved learning things about him, like how his dimples showed when he was absolutely happy or his eyebrows got all scrunched together when he was worried. “Plus, I owe you after you went to Irvine with Leo for my car and drove it back.”

“You don’t owe me anything for that,” Percy turned around and faced her. “You are my friend and this is what friends do for each other.”

“Friends sometimes also change their days off to celebrate a birthday,” Annabeth said quickly, finally bringing the topic that had been making her nervous for a while. “Or at least that’s something we try to do as much as we can.”

Percy turned off the stove and leaned against the kitchen island, giving his full attention to Annabeth. “What do you mean?”

“It’s stupid,” Annabeth said, suddenly feeling shy.

“If it’s something important to you, then it’s never going to be stupid, at least never for me.”

“We have this kind of tradition where we celebrate our birthdays at Disneyland,” Annabeth said and Percy’s lips twitched with a hint of a smile. “Shocker, I know, but it’s something we’ve been doing since I’ve known them, sometimes we can’t get the actual birthday day off so we all agree on another day to go and celebrate and spend the full day at the park.”

“Is there something you want to ask me, Annabeth?” He was smirking at her and she really wanted to kiss that smirk off his face.

“Is there a way you can change your Sunday shift? I know I’m asking you with less than a week notice but we were originally going to celebrate on my actual birthday but yesterday I was told we’re going to have a super important meeting that day and I can’t get the day off, and I really want you to celebrate with me, I mean us, I mean you and Jason are already part of the gang and-” She was rambling and she couldn’t stop, she was sure her face was absolutely red and the way Percy was looking at her, all soft eyes and smiling wasn’t helping her.

“Lucky for you my boss has a soft spot for me.” Percy interrupted her babbling, he walked towards her and squeezed her hand. “I would love to celebrate your birthday with you.”

“It’s a double celebration.” Annabeth blurted out. “I’m going to have a dinner here on my actual birthday too if you also want to come.”

“the twelfth, right?” Percy asked her.

“Yeah.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Percy’s hand was still resting against hers, he gave it another squeeze before moving away. “But for now, dinner is ready.”

***

“So what’s the story of this little fella?” They were in the study room, sitting on the pull out bed Percy was going to sleep on later. They had been playing Mario Party but had paused it, Latte had been sitting on the floor next to the couch crying until Percy had given in and started playing with him. “Did you adopt him?”

“In a way, I actually almost ran him over.” Latte turned to look at her and stuck his tongue out and she started petting his head. “I had been living here for a few months and it was the first time it rained and there was this terrible storm, I was almost home and out of nowhere he ran into the road out and I managed to avoid him just in time.”

Annabeth looked at her dog and remember the rush of adrenaline she had felt, how she was glad she hadn’t been going fast or it wouldn’t have ended well, for her or for the dog. “I took him home with me and spent a week trying to find his family, he didn’t have a microchip and none of the vets I went to had seen him before, I even drove him around town trying to see if something was familiar for him and nada.”

“So you kept him,” Percy said softly.

“I wasn’t going to, originally, I was gonna try and find him a new family but after having him for a few days, the idea of giving him away was too much to bear.”

Percy laughed and picked up Latte who started licking his face making him laugh even more. “I’m glad you kept him.”

“Me too, he really seems to like you.”

“I hope his owner also likes me.” Percy winked at her and Annabeth held her breath in surprise, before she could ask anything Percy kept talking. “And why is he named Latte?”

“When I was driving him around, the day after I found him, I was drinking an iced latte.”

“That you seem to love.” Percy interrupted and smiled at her.

“I, unfortunately, think I’m addicted at this point,” she said and he snorted. “Anyway, I was driving him around and he had the wonderful idea to throw the coffee all over me and almost killed me in the process and somehow me screaming ‘ _My latte!_ ’ made him happy and every time I said Latte he would wiggle his butt all happy and well...”

“He was really destined to be yours,”

“Piper likes to tell me that.”

Percy opened his mouth to say something but instead yawned and Annabeth couldn’t help but also yawn and it was all her body needed to let her know how tired she actually was. She looked at her phone and was surprised to find it was close to midnight. “Oh damn, I should go to sleep, I have work in the morning.”

“Oh,” Percy sounded disappointed. “Can we at least finish this game? I think we’re almost done.”

For a second Annabeth thought he sounded disappointed because he wanted to keep talking with her but he had only wanted to keep playing. Annabeth blinked a few times and tried and failed to stop a yawn, she was really feeling tired now but she was also very competitive and she loved to win, she unpaused the game and kept playing.

Her alarm woke her up and Annabeth blinked a few times, trying to make the sleep go away. In her sleepy state, it took her a few seconds to realize she wasn’t in her room but was instead on the pull out bed, a blanket covering her. She sat up in shock and looked around but Percy was nowhere to be seen. The other side of the bed was unmade with another blanket there, a clear indication that Percy had also fallen asleep there. Annabeth felt heat rush to her cheeks, she didn’t remember falling asleep but in a way she wasn’t surprised, she and Percy had ended up playing way past midnight.

And oh my god, she and Percy had shared a bed.

It was one of the most used tropes in books and movies and now here she was living it and she didn’t even get to enjoy it. She had fallen asleep first (and being honest if he had fallen asleep first she would have gone to her room and it would have been a different story) and she had woken up last. Judging by how cold his side of the bed was he had been awake for a while. Annabeth groaned, she wasn’t sure if she was glad she had missed the chance of waking up next to her crush and the awkwardness involved because he obviously only saw her as a friend or being mad because she and Percy had shared a bed and she didn’t get to live it (technically she did live it but she had been asleep and it didn’t count)

“It’s too early for this,” she mumbled to herself, taking one last look at his side of the bed and making her way downstairs. If she was going to deal with the whole sleeping next to her crush thing she was going to need caffeine…and Piper.

“Morning!” Percy greeted her in the kitchen, he seemed to be too awake and she could only blink at him in response. “I have coffee and donuts.” He pointed to the kitchen island where a tall iced coffee was resting next to a bag of Dunkin Donuts. “I woke up a while ago and Piper texted me the security code in case I needed to leave before you woke up,” Percy kept talking while Annabeth made her way to the coffee and smiled when she saw a few packets of regular sugar next to it. “You’re not a morning person, are you?” He finally asked.

Annabeth took a big sip of her coffee and noted that it was a vanilla latte, her favorite. “I need caffeine to function, I wasn’t joking when I told you I was kind of addicted.” She took another sip and grabbed a donut from the bag. “You, on the other hand, seem to be a morning person.”

“I’m used to waking up early, if I wasn’t helping mom make chocolate early in the morning before school, then I was in swim practice back in high school.” He grabbed a powdered donut. “Now I can rarely sleep in, unfortunately.”

“That’s really sad,” Annabeth said between bites.

“Tell me about it.” Percy smiled at her. “I was going to get you a pretzel but Aunt Annie’s isn’t open yet and I remember you saying that you love Dunkin Donuts.”

Annabeth felt warmness cover her body, he had memorized her coffee order and he remembered her favorite food and that was the moment she knew what she felt for him was more than a crush. Annabeth was falling for Percy, she wasn’t in love yet but she was seriously on her way there.

***

“You are giddy” Piper was sitting on the couch, a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in her hands and her laptop resting in her lap.

Annabeth left her bag and briefcase on the kitchen isle and started petting Latte who was happily running around her legs. “Yeah, Percy keeps texting me complaining about how much pain he’s in, apparently a spending a day at Disneyland from opening to closing is equal to being run over by a truck.”

Piper snorted. “We did warn him park hopping could be considered an extreme sport,” she smirked at her. “You and Percy have been texting a lot lately.”

“Don’t even start.”

Piper raised her hands in surrender. “I’m just saying, you guys have been pretty close lately, we’ve all noticed and especially after the two of you were inseparable at the park, he sat next to you on all the rides.”

“We’re becoming good friends.” It was true, they had been texting nonstop lately, Percy was sarcastic and funny and smart and she loved talking with him. More often than not he called after she left work to talk and sometimes they went to Ruby’s for dinner after they were both done working for the day. And then, there had been her birthday celebration at Disneyland, she was sure Percy never left her side, he’d even held her hand during the drops on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, but then again, he had also held Jason’s.

“Except you _loooooove_ him.”

Annabeth glared at her friend. “I don’t love him,” Piper raised an eyebrow at her. “Look, you know I’ve never been in love and I know I don’t love him yet and yes, every time he texts me I can’t help but smile and when he calls me to talk and tell me about his day or just to tell me a bad joke my heart does this stupid dance but I don’t love him.”

“Yet.”

“He doesn’t care about me like that.”

“You two shared a bed.”

“He was probably too tired to go downstairs and sleep there.”

“He got you that mug for your birthday.”

“That was really nice of him.”

“That was awfully romantic of him.” Piper tried to imitate Percy’s voice. “ _Annabeth, my love, I got you this mug as a token of my feelings for you, you are the architect of my heart so please take good care of it._ ”

Annabeth snorted. “He did not say that.”

“That’s what he actually meant.”

“You are terrible, McLean.”

Percy had gotten her a mug as a birthday present, they had been walking around shops in Disneyland when she pointed at her favorite mug, it was a blue mug decorated with the castle blueprints and the handle was in the form of the Disneyland ‘D’.

“Do you have it?” Percy had asked her.

“Nah, I keep meaning to buy it but I don’t know, I come here all the time and it’s not really a priority you know?” Annabeth had replied. “Like, I guess I know I can buy it any moment.”

Percy had nodded and Annabeth had thought it had been the end of the conversation but later that night, after dropping she and Piper at their house Percy had walked her towards the door while Jason and Piper kissed goodnight.

“Here, I know your birthday is this Thursday but I wanted you to have it now.” He pulled the mug from his backpack. “So you can use it every morning while drinking your coffee and remember why you keep working so hard, so one day your blueprints are gonna be printed on a mug and sold at Disneyland.”

Annabeth had almost kissed him there, instead, she gladly accepted the mug and thanked him.

“Don’t you think I didn’t see you giving him a kiss on the cheek.” Piper moved her laptop to the table and started walking towards to the kitchen where she left her pint of ice cream in the fridge.

“It was a thank you and goodnight kiss.”  Annabeth grabbed her car keys. “I’m not going to drive you to McDonald's for dinner if you don’t drop the topic.”

“Joy killer.”

***

All Annabeth wanted to do was drink a bottle of wine on her own and then sleep for at least twelve hours. The meeting had lasted more than five hours and by the time she left her office she was stuck in traffic, the normal twenty minutes to her house became an hour-long drive. While stuck in traffic she sent a voice note to Percy and called Piper to complain about her day, by the time she arrived at her house her head was killing her and she was very irritable and she was seconds away from texting her friends to cancel her birthday dinner.  

“The bath is ready for you, I dropped a bath bomb and there’s a glass of wine already waiting for you,” Piper said the moment Annabeth walked through the door. “Our friends are going to arrive in an hour or so but take all the time you need, the birthday girl is allowed to be fashionably late.”

“Worst birthday ever,” Annabeth said and accepted the hug her best friend offered. “I thought the meeting was never going to end, my head is killing me, my back is killing me-”

“And a bath is what you need to relax, after that you can drink all the alcohol you want.” Piper broke the hug and started pushing her toward the stairs. “And if that’s not enough, I know a dark-haired boy that will make you feel better, I’m sure if you asked him he would love to give you a massage.”

“I need a whole bottle of alcohol,” Annabeth said while going up the stairs.

“Unfortunately you only get a glass since I don’t want you to finish the bottle and drown in the tub,” Piper yelled. “Then that would be the worst birthday ever.”

Annabeth was half tempted to throw herself on her bed and sleep until the next night but instead she walked towards the bathroom she and Piper shared and just like Piper had said, the bathtub was filled with water. Glitter was making constellations in the water and the room smelled like lavender, Annabeth thanked the heavens for having an amazing best friend. Taking a sip from the glass of wine that Piper had also given her, she took off her clothes and let the hot water warm her muscles.

She wasn’t sure how long she spent in the bath, she had probably fallen asleep at some point. She could faintly hear laughter, an indication that her friends were already home having fun while she was on her way to becoming a raisin, she finished her wine in one sip, left the bath and hurried to her room to start getting ready. She didn’t bother doing her hair, instead, she let it down hoping it would behave. She was still wearing the makeup she had put on that morning since she only needed to fix her eyeliner and retouch her red lipstick, she decided to keep it after fixing it.

“There she is! The birthday girl!” Frank exclaimed once she came downstairs and started walking towards her. “We were starting to wonder if you had drown in the bathtub.”

“I almost did.” She said while Frank picked her up in a bear hug.

“Well we’re glad you didn’t,” Jason said and hugged her. “Happy birthday, Annabeth.”

Leo and Hazel also gave her their best wishes and hugs and then Piper tackled her into another hug. Annabeth looked around the room, looking for the one person she had been looking forward to seeing but Percy was nowhere to be seen. He had texted her at midnight wishing her a happy birthday and they had spent a while texting until she had fallen asleep but after a morning text he had sent her, she hadn’t heard from him. The voice note she had sent him had ended up without a reply, the disappointment was probably clear on her face because Jason leaned in and whispered. “He’s still at work, his mom couldn’t close but he’ll be here as soon as he can, don’t worry.”

Annabeth smiled at him gratefully and walked towards the kitchen to get another glass of wine. “Are we getting pizza?”

“Actually we just ordered Chinese and Leo was about to go and pick the food up,” Piper said cheerfully.

“I was?”

“You are,” Piper said giving Leo some cash. “It’s under my name and bring Coke, you’ve been drinking it nonstop and now we barely have any left.”

“And bring wine!” Annabeth raised her glass of wine. “I had the worst day at the office and I need it.”

“When don’t you have a bad day at work,” Leo replied.

“Sundays,” Annabeth said making her friends laugh.

“Come on, Leo,” Jason grabbed his car keys from the hook on the wall. “I’m coming with you.”

“Because you are an amazing friend and you love me?” Leo said.

“Yeah, let’s go with that.” Jason kissed Piper before leaving.

Annabeth finished her glass of wine and started serving herself another one.

“How bad was your day!?” Hazel laughed.

“You have no idea,” Annabeth took another sip of her wine. “I haven’t eaten anything since the slice of cake the firm got me this morning.”

“They got you a slice of cake? How cheap are they?” Frank asked.

“No, they got me a full cake but I only managed to get a slice because stupid Octavian dropped it by ‘accident’ but we all know it’s because that little shit hates the fact I’m on the project and he isn’t."

“Hate Octavian,” Hazel and Piper said at the same time while raising their beers.

“So you’re on your second glass of wine with an empty stomach?” Frank asked.

“Third,” Piper said.

“Oh, tipsy Annabeth here she comes, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her,” Hazel exclaimed happily.

“I’m not going to get tipsy,” Annabeth stated.

Frank sighed. “I’m gonna make you some toast to help you digest the alcohol.”

“There’s no need, I’m fine,” Annabeth said.

Truth to be told Annabeth didn’t have a high alcohol tolerance and while the wine hadn’t made her drunk, it had made her a little bit tipsy or what their friends liked to call her ‘ _overexcited Annabeth_.’ She would get excited easily and would have no respect for personal space, the last time she had gotten tipsy she had spent the whole night kissing her friends' cheeks telling them how much she loved them. Frank gave her the toast to try to help her alcohol level go down but it had been too late, she was already hugging Hazel telling her all the reasons why she was an amazing friend and why Annabeth was so lucky to have her as a friend. She was about to start listing all the things she loved about Frank when the door opened and Percy walked in.

“I am so, so sorry I know I’m late.” Percy started to say rapidly, he had a white box in his hands. “But I have a good reason, I-”

“Percy!” Annabeth yelled happily, she moved from Hazel and went to hug Percy. “You’re here! Finally!” Since Percy still had the box in his hands Annabeth embraced him from his waist. “I’m so happy you made it.”

Percy was frozen in place, he looked at her in confusion but she only smiled at him. “Annabeth?”

“She had a lot of wine on an empty stomach,” Piper explained.

“She is a happy drunk,” Hazel added.

“I’m not drunk!” Annabeth exclaimed, her arms still around Percy.

“No, you’re not, if you were you probably would have jumped at him while asking him to carry you,” Frank said and looked at Percy. “Personal experience.”

“Leo and Jason are almost here with dinner, once she has food in her, she’ll be back to normal,” Piper said.

“Stop talking like I’m not here.” Annabeth finally dropped her arms from around Percy. If she had been sober she would have been mortified by the way she had greeted him but in her tipsy state she was a little bit braver and didn’t really care.

Percy chuckled and looked at Annabeth. “Sorry! But just so you know, if the birthday girl wants me to carry her then who I am to say no?” Annabeth felt heat rush to her cheeks and she knew it had nothing to do with the alcohol. “But first.” Percy moved the box so he was carrying it with one hand, with his free hand he grabbed her hand and guided her to the kitchen island. Annabeth looked back to her friends who only smiled, and winked in Piper’s case, at her and walked towards the living room, once in the kitchen he dropped her hand and opened the box. “Happy birthday, Annabeth.”

Inside the box was a white cake, little silver and gold pearls were arranged around the cake in the form of many Mickey’s, Annabeth gasped when she saw it. “Oh my God, Percy it’s beautiful.”

“So you like it?” He asked hesitantly. “I know orange is your favorite color but when I was making it, well, it looked too much like a Halloween cake so I had to start all over and get the edible pearls and I think this way it looks so much better.”

“You made it?” Annabeth asked, voice filled with emotion.

“Yeah, I wanted it to be perfect, that’s why I was late.”

“Jason said you were closing the store.”

“I asked him to lie so you would be surprised,” Percy smiled at her and Annabeth felt her throat start to burn,  “You are surprised, right?”

“Yes”! Annabeth was overwhelmed with emotions, after having a crappy day, here was the boy she was falling for, giving her the most beautiful cake she had ever seen. It had probably taken him hours and hours to arrange all the little pearls in the shape of Mickey Mouse and yet he had done it _twice_ , just for her. “Percy, it’s- it’s absolutely perfect, I don’t even think I have words, I’m- thank you so much.”

“It was no problem at all,” Percy smiled at her.

Annabeth threw herself at him and hugged him as hard as she could, trying to express how grateful she was, Percy laughed and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her as fiercely as she was hugging him. “I think I like tipsy Annabeth,” he whispered against her ear making her laugh. “Happy Birthday, Annabeth.”

***

The food helped Annabeth sober up, while she still had another glass of wine during dinner, Piper had made her drink water after it. “Look, I know you don’t have to work tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean you have to wake up with a hangover.”

It was getting late, Frank and Hazel had already left (Frank driving since Hazel had a couple of beers) Jason, Leo, and Percy were in a very intense game of _Jenga_ , Annabeth was banned from playing since her friends thought the fact she was an architect was cheating, Piper was on the couch playing with her phone while petting Latte. Annabeth looked around the room and smiled, she was so glad she hadn’t canceled the dinner. Seeing her friends and celebrating her birthday had left her feeling warm and happy, like sipping hot chocolate on a cold winter night. The stress Annabeth had felt that morning and afternoon had melted away, and now she was only feeling a little embarrassed about how much she had hugged Percy during her tipsy state, yet he didn’t seem to have a problem with it, he happily accepted her hugs and laughed when she proclaimed her love for Piper.

“I’m going to Shorecliffs for a little bit,” Annabeth said to Piper. _Shorecliffs_ was a beach a few minutes away from their house and Annabeth liked to walk there from time to time, there was something about feeling the ocean breeze against her skin while watching the moon and stars illuminate the sky. “I won’t take long.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

Annabeth shook her head. “It’s been a long day, I just need to take a break for a little bit, I’m taking my phone don’t worry.”

Piper looked at her and nodded, it wasn’t the first time Annabeth went to the beach alone at night, it was something she did quite often, sometimes Piper would go with her, sometimes Annabeth took Latte with her but her friend looked tired and Latte was already sleeping on Piper’s lap.

She had just started walking towards the beach when a voice called her. “Annabeth! Wait.” She turned and Percy was jogging to catch up with her. “Can I come with you? It’s quite late and well…” He scratched his head, he looked a little bit embarrassed. “I want to make sure you’re safe, Piper and Leo said I didn’t need to worry but-”

Annabeth smiled at him. “It’s okay, we can walk together.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” She laughed and started walking towards the beach. “I should thank you.”

They talked all the way to the beach, Percy asking about her day and apologizing for not replying to her voice note, Annabeth told him about her day and apologized for how she had acted while tipsy. “Don’t worry.” Percy laughed. “I thought it was adorable.” Annabeth was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see her blushing. They kept talking until they reached the beach but once they sat down in the sand a comfortable silence settled between them.

“Do you have feelings for me?” Percy asked after a few minutes of silence, his voice was clear against the wind and the question took her by surprise.

Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath if he had asked another time she wasn’t sure what she would have replied but in that moment, under the moonlight and with the cold ocean air against her skin, she found herself speaking the truth. “I thought it was quite obvious.” They were both looking at the ocean, not facing each other and maybe that also helped her with her honesty.

Percy chuckled. “A little, yeah.”

“If my feelings make things too awkward for you, I can keep my distance if you want.” Annabeth felt a heavy weight on her chest after she said that. She didn’t want to stop hanging out with Percy she enjoyed his friendship, a lot, he made her so happy even if he didn’t return her feelings, in just a few weeks Percy had become so important to her and the idea of not having him around with a bad joke ready to cheer her up after a crappy day at work, or wake up to memes he sent her while he couldn’t sleep or just a good morning text, made her want to run back to her house and have more wine.

“ _NO!_ ” Percy’s voice was too loud in the dark of the night and it made her jump a little, she turned to look at him and was greeted by wide green eyes and a sort of panicky look on his face, he cleared his throat and in a lower voice said. “No, please don’t do that.”  

Shocked by the intensity of his words she could only reply with a small “Okay.”

Percy looked at her face for a few more seconds before standing up. “I think it’s time for us to go back.”

The walk back to her house was in silence. Annabeth couldn’t read his face and it made her a little nervous, the silence made the walk feel longer than usual. She was scared she had changed their relationship with her confession but there was something about the way he had looked when she mentioned giving him space that made her think that there was _hope_. Once they reached her house she was about to open the door when his voice stopped her.

“Give me time.”

Annabeth turned to look at him. Percy was looking at the ground as if his shoelaces were the most interesting thing in the world, he was acting nonchalant and Annabeth started to wonder if he actually had said anything at all.

“What?”  

She heard him sigh. “Give me time,” he said again, this time he was looking at her and there was a determination in his face that made her freeze. Apparently, he had changed his mind during the walk back and Annabeth felt her eyes starting to burn and tears threatening to fall.

“You want me to give you space?” She didn’t like the fact that her voice sounded hurt, she had already ruined their friendship by confessing her feeling towards him and she didn’t want him to know how much she was hurting.

“What?! No, that’s the opposite of what I want.” He probably read the confusion on her face because he took a few steps closer to her and grabbed her shoulders gently, but firmly. He bent slightly, making his eyes level with hers. “I want time, not space. I know we’re not in the same place yet but give me time, I’m getting there, please don’t give up on me.”

His green eyes were looking at her with so much intensity that Annabeth felt her body shiver. He seemed to be searching for something in her eyes and he must have found it because the grip on her shoulders loosened and his face relaxed. He pulled her towards him in what Annabeth expected to be a hug but instead she felt the light brush of his lips on the corner of her mouth.

It all had happened too fast for Annabeth to comprehend, one moment she thought Percy wanted nothing to do with her, the next he was asking her not give up on him and almost kissing her and then he was inside the house while she was still frozen in the same spot saying:

“Wait... _what_?”


	8. Honey honey, hold me baby, a-ha, honey honey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper's dad is out of the country and she has an empty mansion to babysit and some friends to give her some company.

There were a lot of reasons why Piper didn’t like living in Los Angeles and why she moved out of the city in the first chance she had: the traffic, the rich and snobby people who lived in her neighborhood in Malibu, and the constant rush the city had were some of the reasons, but laying on a float in her dad’s pool without a care in world? That was one of the pros LA had.

“I could get used to this,” Annabeth said next to her. 

“You say that every single time and yet you’re the first one to pack your bags and be ready to go,” Piper said and Annabeth only grunted in response.

Piper’s dad was out of the country filming a new movie in Europe and Piper usually spent a weekend at his place when he was out to make sure everything was okay in the house. Sometimes her friends would come and stay with her, Leo had stayed so often during their teenage years he pretty much had his own room there, but this time she had only asked Annabeth to come with her. Her friend had been in a sea of confusion after her birthday thanks to a certain dark-haired boy. Annabeth had been over analyzing every single thing related to Percy and it had been driving her and Piper crazy, so Piper had forced her to come with her to her dad’s for the weekend. “No boy talk, just us enjoying the sun and eating until we feel sick while watching movies in my dad’s home theater, boy drama can wait for a few days.” Piper had told Annabeth.

“Easy for you to say.” Annabeth had mumbled while packing. “You and Jason are still in the honeymoon stage.”

“We should do this more often,” Piper fixed her sunglasses and dropped her hands to touch the water.

“Relax by the pool? Our community pool is filled with kids.”

“No, not that.” Piper splashed some water towards her friend, making her laugh. “Us hanging out.”

“We live together.”

“Yeah and like Leo is there ninety percent of the time or Jason is there or I am at Jason’s or you are hanging out with Percy.”

“You said this was a Percy-free weekend, why are you bring him up?”

Piper ignored her. “It’s been a while since it’s been only you and me.”

Annabeth was quite for a while. “It has been, hasn’t it?”

“We had so many plans about traveling the world after college and we only went to New York for your birthday last year.”

“There was also that Sequoia trip,” Annabeth said.

“With the bear trying to eat us?”

“The bear was so far away and it was minding its own business, we were never at risk of being killed by him.”

“We were so close to dying,” Piper said and Annabeth kicked her, almost knocking her off her float. “YOU  _ ASSHOLE _ !” Piper yelled while Annabeth laughed, she tried to push her off her float but Annabeth avoided her. 

“We can travel to Europe in the winter,” Annabeth said, “During your school break, I have a lot of paid vacations days I haven’t used and they keep accumulating and my boss is gonna force me to take them when he realizes.”  

“Like when he freaked out because he saw how much overtime you’ve worked?”

“And that’s why I have a lot of paid days off that I keep not using because work is insane.”

“We could go to Paris,” Piper said and an idea came to her mind. “Oh my god, we can go to Disneyland Paris! And then in the summer we can take a longer trip and go to Shanghai and Hong Kong.”

Her friend snorted. “You only want to visit all the Disney’s in the world.”

“I’m saving Tokyo for when I turn the big thirty and when you turn thirty we can go to Hawaii.”

“And stay in the Disney resort?”

“You know it, babe.”

“Let’s do it! But let’s add Greece to the list.”

“London, Paris, Italy and Greece.” Piper sighed happily, already feeling the thrill of an adventure coming up. She loved to travel, she loved to get lost in the streets and try new things. Before college, she had loved to visit her dad while he was filming in different cities, not because she cared about the set life but because of all the places she had seen because of it. “We can spend New Years in one of those cities.”

“You would miss your first Christmas and New Years with Jason,” Annabeth pointed out and Piper’s high stopped for a little bit.

“Oh right, I would.”

“Maybe we can spend a few days in Chicago after New Years?”

“No, I love Jason so much and I do want to spend the days with him but I know in my heart I’ll have many more years to celebrate those holidays with him but I don’t know how  _ many _ more opportunities I’ll have to travel the world with my best friend.” 

Annabeth looked at her. “Are you sure?”

“I am pinky swear sure,” she said sticking her pinky out towards her friend who laughed and interlocked her pinky with hers. “It’s a promise.”

“We can start planning after we get out of the pool.”

“Okay,” Piper said and knocked them off of their floats.

***

“Have I told you lately how handsome you are?” Piper said and Jason laughed across the screen, even in her phone she could see the red tint of his cheeks. “You are absolutely handsome, like how are you real?”

“You’re the one talking, you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve seen in my life.”

“Lies.”

“Truths,” Jason said and Piper laughed. Piper had decided to stay a few extra days at her dad’s place, enjoying the pool and the private beach. Annabeth had gone back to San Clemente but she was coming back for the weekend and not only her, the rest of her friends were also coming but in the meantime she was facetiming Jason every night.

“Are you sure you can’t come a day early?”

Jason shook his head sadly. “Sally is already kind enough to give us Saturday and Sunday off and let us leave early on Friday, I feel asking for an extra day is taking advantage, too much, even if I know she would say yes.”

“I know, I just miss you so much,” Piper said, it had been only a few days but it had been the longest she had been without seeing Jason in person since they started dating. 

“I miss you too, I keep finding myself driving to your house after work before I remember you’re in Los Angeles.” 

“Aww, babe,” Piper said. “You can still go and have dinner with Annabeth, god knows someone has to make sure she is eating something else besides frozen food now that I’m not there.”

Jason snorted. “I’m pretty sure Percy is taking care of her.”

Piper raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Tell me more.”

“If he is not having dinner with her at Ruby’s, then he is waking up extra early to go and have breakfast with her, he is so distracted at work and he gets the biggest smile on his face every time he texts her.” Jason laughed. “He used to tease me so much about you and now I can finally get my revenge.”

“God! They are both crazy about each other, what’s he waiting for!?”

“That’s what I keep asking him but he hasn’t given me a clear answer,” Jason said and shrugged.

“And I guess he’s probably out with her right now?”

“I think he’s  _ cooking _ for her tonight.” 

“So he’s probably going to get home late?”

Jason snorted. “Probably after midnight.”

“And you’re all alone at home.”

“Piper McLean, what do you have in mind?”

Piper bit her lip in what she expected was a flirty way, and by the way Jason stiffened across the screen she knew she had succeeded. “Well, Jason Grace I have one question for you…what are you wearing?”

“Isn’t that line reserved for the phone? Does that work on video calls? I mean you can see what I’m wearing” Jason said but he was smirking at her in a way Piper knew that her night could only end up one way.

“You’re right, I can see your shirt but I don’t think I can see everything, I think you should take it off and show it to me.”

“I’ll show you mine you show me yours?”

“On the count of three,” Piper said. “One, two… _ three. _ ”

***

“This is why I like Texas’ beaches better,” Leo said to Piper. “The water is warm there, never this cold.”

“You say that every single time we come to the beach,” Piper said to her friend who was currently trying to muster some courage to walk deeper into the cold ocean, it had been a really hot day and the sea was warmer than usual but for Leo, it was still cold.

“No, I say that every time I get into the sea and that’s not often because this shit is cold.” Leo took a few steps and hissed. “That’s what I miss about living in Texas, the warm nice happy beaches.”  

“You and Annabeth are the worst when it comes to the ocean.” Piper turned to look at her friend who was on the sand, reading a book and staying away from the ocean. “It’s not that bad, just swim for a little bit and you won’t feel the cold.”

“No, I’m not doing it,” Leo pointed at the rest of their friends who were deeper into the ocean having fun. “How the fuck they are not freezing?” 

“Because the water is not that cold,” Piper said and Leo glared at her. “Or it’s because Hazel lived in Alaska and is used to the cold, Frank is from Canada so the water is probably warm to him, Percy is weird and loves to swim in the cold water and Jason is always hot so he probably enjoys the cold water.” 

Leo smirked at her. “Your boyfriend is hot, that’s why he likes cold water?”

“Jason is absolutely hot, we all know that but what I meant is that he is always  _ hot _ , as in his body temperature is higher than mine and I love hugging him on cold nights but also because of it, he's always hot and the jerk keeps putting the AC on at night and I have to sleep with three blankets while he’s living his best life in the freezing cold.”

Leo snorted. “Sucks to be you.” He took another step and started yelling. “Cold current, cold current! Fuck this shit, I’m out of here.” He started walking back towards the beach, cursing in Spanish while Piper only laughed.

Piper felt warm muscular arms embrace her, while soft lips kissed her neck. “Is he okay?” Jason asked. 

“He’s fine, he’s just a baby when it comes to the cold.” Piper rested her head against her boyfriend’s chest and Jason kissed the top of her head.

Jason chuckled against her ear. “And you’re not?”

“I’m perfectly normal when it comes to the cold, you’re the odd one who loves to be extra cold when there’s no need.”

“But you still love me.”

“With all my heart.” 

“Even if do this?” Jason said, with a hint of playfulness in his voice, before she could say anything Jason had already picked her up and dropped her back into the ocean making her scream in surprise. 

“ _ YOU ARE SO DEAD _ !” Piper yelled once she was back on the surface but Jason was already swimming away from her. “Come back here! You coward.” Piper tried to catch up with him but he kept laughing and swimming.  

***

“I can’t believe you actually went into the ocean for more than an hour,” Piper said to Annabeth, they were sitting in their beach chairs watching the sunset while the boys worked on the bonfire, Hazel had gone back to the house to change into something warmer. “The things you do for love.”

“Percy likes the ocean and I like him,” Annabeth said. “And I have to admit I actually had fun.”

“And Percy probably loved being in the ocean with you, he was looking for every excuse to touch you,” Piper smirked at her friend. “But then again he probably died the moment he saw you in that tiny bikini.”

“It’s not that tiny,” Annabeth mumbled, her cheeks as red as the bikini she had worn. 

“You have been wearing high waisted bikinis or one pieces since I’ve known you and yet today you chose that red bikini I forced you to buy that you’ve rarely worn.”

“Do you really think he died when he saw me?”

“He crashed against a chair, Annabeth, he couldn’t stop looking at you.” Piper looked at the boys and found Percy looking back at them. “He can’t stop looking at you even now.”

“Who can’t stop looking at who?” Hazel asked and both girls turned to look at their younger friend, her hair was up in two buns and she was wearing a yellow summer dress under a jacket. 

“Percy to Annabeth.”

“Right!? He’s got it so bad for you.” Hazel laughed and sat down next to them. “Wait, are you wearing his hoodie?”

“He offered it after I said I was getting cold.” 

Hazel and Piper exchanged a knowing look. “Oh my god, just kiss him already,” Hazel said and Annabeth looked at her in surprise.

“I  _ can’t _ !” 

“Not with that attitude,” Piper said under her breath.

“ _ Piper _ !”

“Look, Percy likes you, you like him, he knows you like him, I’m not sure what you’re you waiting for,” Piper said and Hazel nodded in agreement. 

“For him to do something! He knows I like him and he told me to wait for him and I’m doing that and it’s driving me crazy because it’s been over two weeks and he still hasn’t made a move or tried to kiss me.” Annabeth covered her face with her hands and sighed with frustration. “Every time I think he’s about to kiss me he pulls away but then he’s making me dinner or holding my hand or playing with my hair and everything is so confusing.”

“Boys are dumb,” Hazel rested a hand on Annabeth’s knee. “I’m sorry.”

Piper looked at her friend, she wished things could be easier for her, Piper had been there for her every time Annabeth needed her and there were times Piper wanted to grab Percy by his ear and yell at him till he finally made a move on her friend. She hated seeing Annabeth like this, Annabeth didn’t fall for people easily and now that she had things haven’t gotten as smoothly as Piper had wished for her.

“Do you want to back to the house?” Piper asked her. “Forget the boys, we can have a girl’s night in my room.”

Annabeth smiled at her in gratitude. “No, it’s okay, but thank you. I want to have s’more’s with you guys and hang out.” Annabeth looked in the direction where the boys where. “And I want to spend time with him.”

“You know he likes you back, right?” Piper asked softly. 

“I know, I just wish I knew what he’s waiting for.”

“The perfect moment?” Hazel said

“Maybe,” Annabeth said frustrated. “I just wish it didn’t take him this long but then again, two weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought I had a chance with him.”

Cheers erupted near them and the girls looked at the boys who were celebrating the bonfire they had created, it was big and it was already warming them from the cold ocean breeze. Leo had probably done most of the job since he had a tendency thing for setting things on fire. The boys were yelling at them to join them and Piper looked at Annabeth. “We can still do a sleepover if you want to.”

“Nah, spend the night with your boy, I know how much you missed each other.” Annabeth stood up from her chair and put her arms around Hazel. “Besides I’ve got my dear, sweet Hazel to keep me company.”

Hazel laughed and wrapped her arms around the blonde girl. “We can watch Netflix while I give you Disney gossip.”

“Well now I’m jealous,” Piper said and they started walking towards the boys.

***

The air around her was filled with the smell of smoke, Percy and Frank had put out the bonfire a few minutes ago, Piper had decided to stay on the beach for a little bit longer and after a series of goodnights her friends were walking up the stairs back to her dad’s place. Jason was  hesitating at the start of the stairs, looking and waiting for her but at the same time giving her some space.

“You can sit next to me, you know?” Piper said loudly, hoping he could hear her without having to yell.

“You sure?” He said, his voice was becoming closer, he was already walking towards her.

When he was standing next to her, Piper looked up at him. “If there’s a thing I’m sure of it’s that I always want you next to me.”

Jason laughed and sat next to her, his right arm went around her shoulders pulling her closer to him, she rested her head on his shoulder and smiled. Jason had always made her feel warm and safe, the feeling of having his arms around her used to make her feel all giddy and make butterflies erupt in her belly but now she didn’t feel them anymore, instead she felt a calmness and a feeling of belonging, as long as Jason was hugging her there was nothing wrong in the world. 

“I feel a little bit guilty,” Piper confessed.

“About?” 

“Us,” she said and closed her eyes. “How easy we got it, how everything has been magical since the moment I met you.”

“Is this about Annabeth and Percy?” Jason said softly.

“If there’s someone who deserves a romance out of a movie it’s her, love hasn’t been kind to her and she deserves a happy ending.”

“Love hasn’t been kind to Percy either, he finally told me why he’s taking things so slowly, he has a good reason, I promise, and he absolutely cares about and adores Annabeth and I know he’ll make her so happy.” Her boyfriend took a deep breath and turned to look at her. “And I understand why you feel guilty, but Piper, you also had rough relationships before me. Some of them were really bad and if there’s someone who deserves a happy ending it’s you. And I can only hope and pray that I’m lucky enough to share that ending with you.” He kissed her temple. “You are the bravest and strongest girl I’ve ever met, you had to overcome so many hardships I can’t even imagine and yet you’re one of the kindest, loveliest people I have ever met.”

Piper felt tears prickle her eyes, Jason's face was so passionate and his voice was so full of conviction, she didn’t have any doubt about the things he had just said about her. “I can speak three languages and yet there are not enough words to express how much I love you and I’m so grateful to have you in my life.”

“You love fiercely and passionately, you care so much about your friends and you would do anything for them, you give and you never expect anything in return.” Jason pulled her even closer so she was sitting on his lap. “If there’s one person who deserves the world, that person is you.”  

Piper kissed him, her lips moving quick and passionately against his, Jason was kissing her back with the same intensity. She was trying to show him how much she loved him, how much she needed him, how she already had the world because she had him. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” she said between kisses, she could feel tears running down her face but she didn’t care, the only thing that mattered in that moment was Jason.

They kissed for what seemed a few minutes or maybe a few hours, Piper wasn’t sure and she didn’t care, but they had only stopped kissing when Jason’s stomach decided to let them know it needed food. 

“We should probably head up and get you some food,” Piper said between laughs.

“Or we can stay here for a little longer and keep kissing,” Jason said at the same time his stomach rumbled again. “Or not.”

“Or we can sneak out and go to an  _ In N Out _ ,” Piper said conspiratorially. “Everybody is probably already getting ready for bed and no one is going to notice us leaving for a little bit.”

Jason contemplated what she said for a moment. “Get well-done fries and hot chocolate?” 

“And a burger for you or your stomach is not going to let me sleep tonight.”

Jason grinned.“I do love their burgers.”

“So it’s a plan?” Piper said standing up.

“Leo’s going to murder us if he finds out we went and didn’t bring him anything,” Jason accepted the hand Piper was offering him and stood up. 

“That’s why we have to be really quiet,” Piper took his hand and started walking back towards the house. “Even more because we’re gonna take his car for a ride.”

“Oh, he is  _ so _ going to murder us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe there is only one chapter left and then an epilogue and then the story is complete, I have had so much fun working on this story and is my happy place and I'm going to be so sad to say goodbye to it!


	9. I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you, I just can't believe it's true.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy's birthday is around the corner, Annabeth is not sure what to get for the boy she-kind-of-loves-and-is-kind-of-seeing-but-not-really-seeing, but sometimes the things you are not expecting could be the best type of present.

What birthday present can you get for the boy you’re kind of in love with, and he knows it and likes you back, but it’s been almost a month and he hasn’t asked you out? Annabeth had been asking herself that for the past few days and her time was running out. Percy’s birthday was getting close and she still did not have even a remote idea of what to get him. She wasn’t sure how many hours she had spent after work at the Spectrum trying to find the perfect present for him: clothes felt too informal, a skateboard or surfboard didn’t feel right, there was no point in giving him a video game since he didn’t have a console and she knew he wouldn’t take it well if she got him a console. Anything baking related was out of the question unless she wanted him to spend his birthday in the ER with a severe case of food poisoning. The few things Percy had mentioned in passing that he wanted was all stuff Jason or his mom had already gotten for him, at least that’s what Jason had told her after she went to him for help.

“He’ll love anything you give him,” Jason had said but Annabeth was still dubious.

She had been walking around Target for almost an hour when she saw the bag of blue Hershey Kisses and got an idea. She grabbed the bag and put it in her cart and went back to walking around Target, this time with a look of determination, getting a few more items before going back to the stores outside.

“This is like a creepy package,” Annabeth said later that night while gathering the stuff on the dinner table. “He’s going to think I’m a creepy stalker.”

“Nah.” Piper took a sip of her tea. “He’s going to think this is super romantic.” She tried to take one of the loose kisses on the table and Annabeth slapped her hand away. “The thing about romance is it’s romantic if you like the person doing the gesture, like how I love Jason’s morning texts, but if someone like Dylan sends me a good morning text every morning I would have blocked him already.”

“Douchebag Dylan from CVS?” Annabeth asked.

“Yeah, that asshole.” Piper managed to steal a chocolate from the table. “But Percy is crazy about you so he’s going to love this.”

Annabeth looked at everything on the table, it was a collection of random stuff: from Percy’s favorite candy to a shirt with a terrible pun she was sure Percy had told her at some point.

“I like these.” Piper picked up the blue-mirrored aviator sunglasses, “But doesn’t he already have a similar pair?”

“He lost them surfing a few days ago and I think and hope he hasn’t gotten new ones.”

“Sucks for him.” She tried on the sunglasses. “I love aviator glasses but unfortunately...”

“The nose things get stuck in your hair,” Annabeth said at the same time as Piper. “You’ve only said that, I don’t know, like every time you see this type of sunglasses.”

Piper took the glasses off. “It’s a tragedy, Annabeth! Do you know how _hot_ I look in these glasses!?”

“You do realize I have a mess of  _curls_ on my head, right? If someone knows about tragedy it’s me, everything gets stuck in my hair.” Annabeth pointed at the sunglasses in her friend’s hand. “Those especially.”

Piper gasped in fake surprise. “Wait! You have curly hair!? Are you shitting me!?” She put the glasses down so she could hold her forehead with her hands. “I’ve never noticed! It’s not like you’re a freaking golden retriever, leaving hair fucking everywhere. I can’t believe I haven’t noticed the curly blonde hairs that are part of this house now.”

“Hahaha, very funny McLean.” Annabeth started to gently wrap the sunglasses. “Do I need to remind you that you have more hair than me and 99% of it ends up in the bathroom sink we share.”

“Latte sheds less hair than you.”

“Our neighbor’s cat loses less hair than you.”

“That was low Chase, he’s called Mr. Fluffy for a _reason_.”

“I do know that, _Miss Fluffy_ ," Annabeth smirked at her roommate.

“I don’t like you to the point that I’m going to the falafel place near Target without you.”

“What! No!” Annabeth stood up and started following Piper towards the door. “I’m the reason you know about that place.”

“Your cousin is the reason we know about that place.” Piper plucked  Annabeth’s keys from the hook on the wall and handed them to her. “But fine, I guess you can come with me.”

Annabeth grabbed the keys from Piper’s hand. “You are literally giving me my car keys, asshole, don’t sound like a saint, you want me to drive you.”

Piper started walking towards Annabeth’s car. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

***

“It still shocks me to see you drink coffee,” Annabeth said while Percy drank from a yellow _Cafe Mimosa_ mug. They were finishing Sunday brunch at a little French style restaurant downtown after she’d woken up to his texts asking if she wanted to meet him later that day.

“And I still don’t understand how you haven’t gone into diabetic shock from all the sugar you put in yours.”

Annabeth peaked at his coffee and wrinkled her nose, making him laugh. Percy drinking black coffee was something Annabeth hadn’t seen coming, she’d assumed he loved sugar, he worked at a chocolate store after all, and he did have a weak spot for cookies. Yet when they had coffee in to-go mugs and they couldn’t tell which was which, Percy usually gagged when he took sips of her coffee by accident.

“It’s not that sugary.”

Percy stared at her. “A diabetic would die if they took a sip of your coffee.”

“Well, according to my annual physical, my blood sugar is perfectly okay, thank you very much.” Annabeth took a sip of her coffee to prove her point and Percy shook his head, a fond smile displayed on his face.

“You certainly are something, Annabeth Chase.” He grinned at her. “Not what I expected, in the best way possible.”

“You mean I’m not a heartless cold bitch? Because that’s what they call me at work, actually they call me Elsa, but same thing.”

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. “What? Why!? You _cold-hearted_? Do they even know you?”

“You’re not the only one with resting bitch face, Perce.” Annabeth stole a piece of his bacon. “Plus, I take work really seriously.”

“I know that, I’ve heard you talk on the phone to coworkers and your bosses, but I also know that if they took a moment to properly talk to you they would realize how amazing you are.” Percy grabbed her hand and started playing with it. “But you also have a killer glare, I’m not going to lie about that.”

“Thank you, I’m really proud of it.”

Percy snorted. “You’re amazing, do you know that?”

“I know, I’m the best,” she said, playfully as she raised her left shoulder towards her face in a fake posy manner, making Percy laugh.

“And you are so humble, I feel so bad about my selfish self.” Percy had perfected a tone of voice that is so flat you’re never sure if he’s being serious or not, but he adds just a tiny hint of humor to it that, if you know him, you know he was joking.

“I actually won an award for being so humble.” Annabeth played along.

“Mmm, did you?”

“Yeah, it’s on a shelf next to all my first place trophies and medals.”

“You are such a role model, Annabeth.”

“The Dalai Lama keeps telling me that, but I don’t like to brag.”

Percy had managed to keep a perfect poker face until that moment when he burst out laughing. He rested his forehead against their still interlocked hands. “I’m so full.”

“You ate your food and part of mine plus you asked for a side of bacon, I’m surprised you’re not throwing up.”

“I want some ice cream.”

“What the fuck are you.”

“I’m a growing boy.”

“You’re turning twenty-six in five days, Percy, I don’t know how to break the news to you but you stopped growing a few years ago.” Percy opened his mouth to say something but before he could Annabeth interrupted him. “If you make a fucking _despacito_ joke I’m leaving, Piper and Leo don’t stop saying it and you are not joining the club.”

“Joy killer.” Percy stuck his tongue out at her and she wrinkled her nose at him, smiling when she felt him tap her nose. “Do you want to go to the beach for a little bit? I don’t have to be at work for a few more hours.”

“Sure, do you want to go to the pier and get some ice cream?”

“Actually can we take the trolley to North Beach? It’s going to be a little less crowded than the pier.” Percy’s posture had changed a little bit, instead of the relaxed, carefree vibe he had been giving her moments ago, she could see a bit of tension in his shoulders and jaw. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you but I wasn’t sure how.”

Annabeth gulped a little nervous, Percy wasn’t blushing and his face had become serious. She knew a love confession wasn’t on the table but for the first time in a while she wasn’t sure what to expect, and that was making her anxious, knowing he was going to talk about something serious. Millions of ideas started racing through her mind: he was going to move, he was sick, his grandma was sick and they were going to move out of the state, _Blue Truffle_ was going out business. He probably saw how much his words had affected her and he gently took her hand to his lips.

“It’s not something bad, I promise, it’s just something I want you, no, I need you to know, it’s… important for me that you know this.”

Annabeth looked at his sea green eyes, he was nervous too but trying to not to show it. She could hear her heartbeat going crazy in her chest, but her hand was still resting against his lips and that was calming her a little.

“Okay.”

***

“I have depression,” Percy finally said and Annabeth tried to suppress a gasp. They were sitting on the sand, facing the ocean. Percy had been quiet the whole ride to the beach, lost in his thoughts and Annabeth had let him, she knew he was trying to find the words for whatever he needed to tell her. She was still feeling nervous, but Percy hadn’t let go of her hand during the trolley ride and while he had guided them down the beach trying to find a quietish spot. He only let go of her hand when they sat down, her with her legs stretched and him with his legs crossed.

“It’s something I’ve been suffering with since I was young and I didn’t even know what depression was.” Annabeth opened her mouth, but Percy gave her a sad smile before she could figure what to say and he kept talking. “I’m better now, I go to therapy and my therapist and I agreed a while ago that I don’t need meds anymore but there were two moments in my life that I was not at…my _best_ , I guess.”

He looked at his hands and intertwined them before starting to twist them. It took a few moments for him to speak and when he did, his voice was firm and a little emotionless, like if he was trying his best not to show how much it had affected him. “I had my first serious relationship in my senior year, her name was Bailey, she was the first person I ever said I love you to, and well she was also my first in other aspects.” The sad chuckled gave Annabeth an idea of what first he was talking about. “We started dating in November after I won my swim competition, it was something out of a movie, I guess, I ran to her and kissed her in front of everyone and I felt like the luckiest guy alive and I was, for a while, until my freshman year of college.”

“That’s when you dropped out,” Annabeth said quietly, Percy had told her once that he had tried college and but it hadn’t been what he wanted in life.

“Both Bailey and I went to UCLA, I was majoring in marine biology but like I told you, as much as I love everything related to the ocean, I was not enjoying it, the stress was terrible, my ADHD was acting up like crazy in classes. I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t study, swimming was taking all of me and things with Bailey were not going well.” He stopped twisting his hands and started playing with the sand next to him. “San Clemente High School was a relatively small school and then we were out in the big city and I dunno, we started growing distant. College was taking a toll on us, meeting new people, and then I dropped out and a few weeks later I caught Bailey cheating on me.”

Annabeth bit her tongue trying not to yell and curse at Bailey, she had been feeling a little jealous about her but now she wanted to scream, how could someone cheat on Percy!? This guy, who was absolutely wonderful and amazing and sweet and charming and loyal, how could someone do that to him? Percy looked at her and could probably read her emotions because he squeezed her arm.

“Thank you,” he said. “I’m fine now, so much better, but after that, I started going downhill and the worst thing is that I didn’t realize it. I started having bad thoughts, even before Bailey I was playing at the edge of an abyss and after her cheating, well, it was all the push I needed to fall into it. Sometimes I would get drunk, as much as I disliked the taste of it was better focusing on that than on the mess my brain was, I also started having one night stands and that’s how I met Ben.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Chocolate hating Ben?”

Percy chuckled and smiled gratefully at her. “That’s the one.”

“So, I’m guessing him not liking chocolate wasn’t the reason why you guys didn’t work out.”

He shook his head. “If only things had been that simple.”

Percy had said he had two bad moments in his life, Bailey cheating on him had been one and that only meant Ben was related to the other one. Annabeth felt a pang in her chest, even if Percy had told her he was better now her heart was hurting over how much he had suffered.

“I fell for him, hard.” Percy took a deep breath. “I also want you to know that Ben isn’t a bad person, he was caring and loving and supporting even if he hated everything related to my job.” Percy smiled sadly, probably remembering happy memories with him. “But when your head isn’t in a good place…what started as an amazing relationship started to become a toxic one and when Ben realized that, he did what was the best for him.”

Percy took a deep breath and closed his eyes and Annabeth realized what he was trying to say. “He broke up with you.”

“Now that years have passed and I’m in a better place mentally I can understand why he did it. I don’t blame him at all and I wish things could have ended on a better note but back then…I didn’t take it well and not long after that I reached the bottom of the abyss.”

Annabeth felt a lump in her throat, Percy had suffered so much to become the man he was today and she wanted to protect him from all pain, she knew it was stupid and she could never do it, nobody could protect someone from themselves. “I’m so sorry, Percy,” she whispered.

Percy gave her a humorless laugh, he’d finally stopped playing with the sand and his hands were resting on top of his knees. “Not your fault.”

“I know.” She hesitantly laid her right hand on top of his left one, when he didn’t pull away she kept talking. “But I’m still sorry you had to go through that.”

“I am too, but, those experiences are what made me the person I am today, they were absolutely painful but I’ve learned from my mistakes, I’m still learning from them, but also…” He looked at their touching hands, he slowly intertwined them. “That’s why I’m scared.”

“Of me?” Annabeth asked gently.

“I like you, Annabeth, so much,” he said and she gasped at his words, she had been waiting for them for so long, she couldn’t believe she was finally hearing them.

Percy looked at her and she could read every emotion on his face, for the first time he was an open book to her. “You are the most brilliant and intelligent person I have ever met, god, you shine in a way I never thought a person could. You are beautiful and determined and goofy and smart and hardworking, and you love your friends with all your heart and you make me so incredibly happy that it scares me how much I like you.”

And then Annabeth finally understood it. “And that’s why you’re taking things slow with me.”

His thumb caressed her skin. “I’m sorry, I know this frustrates you.”

Annabeth put her other hand on top of their interlocked hands. “I won’t lie, it’s been really frustrating but I also didn’t understand what was going on with you, but I understand it now.” She spoke with such determination and passion that it surprised her. “I’m so grateful you trusted me with this, I like you too, _a lot_ , and if there’s one thing my heart and my head are telling me it’s that you are worth waiting for, so I’m going to keep waiting for you.”

Percy’s face moved closer to her but he quickly stopped himself, the movement had been so subtle that Annabeth would have missed it if she wasn’t intensely looking at him. She could see the tension in his jaw, but it was his eyes that said it all. He wanted to kiss her, _badly_ , and it was killing him not to do it, and it was killing her too. Annabeth knew why he wasn’t leaning forward to touch her lips though, it was the same reason she wasn’t pulling him towards her. After his confession, they both knew it wasn’t the right moment, that as much as they wanted it, it wouldn’t be right to start their relationship in that moment. But the electricity around them and the way Percy was squeezing her hand was like a promise to Annabeth, a promise made of just one unspoken word: _soon_.

***

“How soon is soon?” Piper asked. She was laying on Annabeth’s bed while Annabeth put her clean laundry in her wardrobe.

“I don’t know,” Annabeth grabbed her clean bras and started putting them away. “I hope before summer ends.” Piper hissed and made a face at her. “Summer’s not that far away!”

“I’m not making this face because of that, I’m making this face because those are the most boring bras I have ever seen.” Piper grabbed some of the bras left in the laundry basket, they were simple white, nude and black bras and Annabeth had never had a problem with them. Her roommate waved them around Annabeth’s face. “What is this, Chase? You’re twenty-six not sixty-two!”

“They’re comfortable.”

“Babe, you have small boobs, almost all the bras are made comfortable for you, hell, you can even get away without wearing one. Talk to me when you’re a 38C and you want to find cute bras,” Piper said and Annabeth snatched her bras back from her friend’s hand. “I was hoping _soon_ was before the week ends but now I’m hoping it isn’t before I take you shopping for cute bras.”

“I’m not buying new bras just for Percy!” Annabeth exclaimed, her cheeks burned  red as her brain started playing with the idea of her wearing lacy underwear and his hands reaching towards her... she cleared her throat before saying. “Plus it’s not like I’m going to jump in his bed the moment he finally kisses me.”

“You’re right, you can always jump in _your_ bed together.” Piper wiggled her eyebrows and Annabeth threw a sock at her. “Okay but like, you don’t necessarily need to buy cute underwear for a guy, I started buying sexy underwear because it makes me feel good, the fact that Percy is going to eventually see you in it is just a bonus...for _him._ ”

“You are so stupi--are you seriously browsing Victoria’s Secret right now!?” Annabeth said to her friend who was currently using her phone to look for bras.

“I’m doing you a favor.”

“I’m not going to buy bras.”

“That’s okay, I can get them for you, I know your credit card number after all,” Piper said simply and Annabeth glared at her.

“I’m gonna move out.”

“Enjoy living off frozen food and fast food chains!” Piper blew her a kiss and Annabeth flipped her off, Annabeth kept putting her clothes away while Piper still used her phone, Annabeth wasn’t sure if Piper was going to actually buy her the clothes or not, with Piper you could never be sure.

“I’ve already start planning our costumes for _Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween_ Party.” Piper put down her phone on the bed and looked at Annabeth.

“It’s August.”

“So?”

“You usually start planning them in September.”

“That was when there were five of us, now there’s seven, plus I also have to plan Jason and my costumes for dad’s Halloween party.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes at her friend, Piper was obsessed with Halloween and she usually started preparing for the month of October in September, she usually had the best costumes and her friends let her plan theirs. “I’m going downstairs for food,” Annabeth said and Piper got up from the bed to follow her. “Let me guess, couple costume?”

“Think Atlantis,” Piper said while going down the stairs.

“Nice, you’re going to rock Kida’s white hair. Jason’s too muscular for Milo, though.”

“It’s okay, at least he accepted to not have a haircut until after the party.”

“Damn,” Annabeth opened the fridge and started getting out the ingredients for her toast. “That’s love.”

“God, I know, I love him,” Piper said dreamily. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about, it’s about your costume.”

“I’m not going to your dad’s party.” Annabeth started cutting slices of cucumber.

“I love how much you pay attention to me, I was talking about you costume for _Disney’s_ Halloween party.”

“Well, you also started talking about your dad’s party so…” Annabeth started spreading cream cheese on her bread. “Okay, so what’s my costume going to be then?”

“Princess Aurora!” Piper said proudly.

“Because I have curly blonde hair and I’m tall?” Annabeth looked at her friend. “Super original, never heard that before, I hope your brain didn’t die from thinking so hard about it.” Annabeth took a bite of her toast, tried not to throw up, and put the food in the garbage.

“That’s what you get for being a sarcastic little shit.” Piper went to the fridge and took out the sourdough bread. “And you always get the wrong bread for this, you would think you’d have learned your lesson by now.”

“ _Har, har_.”

Piper started making them toast and kept talking. “And I know Aurora’s not that original, but Aurora wearing Phillips clothes? Let’s think about that.”

“Oh,” Annabeth said, “I like that.”

“Of course you do, I’m a freaking genius.” Piper gave her the toast. “Do you think Percy would like to be the Briar Rose to your Philip?” Annabeth took a bit of her snack and raised an eyebrow. “I mean brown pants, black t-shirt, and a grey sweater.”

“Shit, he’d look hot.”

Piper winked at her. “You’re welcome.”

“Wait, what’s your costume going to be?

Piper raised her arms and flexed them. “Well, Gaston, of course.”

“Oh, hell yeah.”

***

Annabeth yawned while making her coffee, she’d stayed awake till almost three in the morning talking with Percy, she had called him the moment the clock had hit midnight to wish him a happy birthday and they stayed on the phone till she literally fell asleep. When her alarm woke her up a few hours later, she could barely keep her eyes open and she had a large iced Dunkin Donuts coffee in her hand almost all morning at work waiting till the sugar rush and caffeine kicked in, she was glad she had only worked half a day, she wasn’t sure she could have made it to a full day work day of blueprints and meetings. She was debating on drinking her coffee or forgetting about it and taking a nap, Percy’s birthday dinner wasn’t until later that night and he was supposed to spend the day with his family.

She was settled on taking a nap when Latte jumped from his bed and started barking at the door, by the way he was sticking his tongue out and running in circles she knew the person who was coming to her house was someone he loved and he only reacted that way for two people. Annabeth opened the front door to find Percy Jackson, hand up in the air and a few inches away from the doorbell. The moment he saw Annabeth his face broke out in a blinding grin that made Annabeth’s stomach become a butterfly flying arena. Before she could say anything Latte ran to Percy and started jumping at his feet begging for attention.

“Well someone’s happy to see me,” he said and knelt so he could pet Latte while the dog tried his best to cover Percy’s face with drool.

“He’s not the only one,” Annabeth said and the way Percy smiled at her like if she was the best thing that had happened to him, made her knees go weak. “Come in.”

He stood up and wrapped her in his arms the moment he walked through the door. “Happy Birthday,” Annabeth whispered against his ear, Percy’s reply was to hug her tighter, making her laugh. “I thought you were celebrating with your family,” she said once they parted.

“I was.” Instead of taking off his shoes and walking towards the living room, like he did every time he visited he went towards the kitchen island and sat on one of the stools, his way to let her know this was going to be a short visit. “We all had brunch at my parents' place, mom even opened Blue Truffle late which is a clear sign that I’m her favorite.” He said teasingly. “But now she’s back at work and my grandma took Tellie to play bingo.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow and leaned against the kitchen wall. “Your eight-year-old sister is spending her Saturday afternoon playing _Bingo_?”

Percy shrugged. “Her fate was sealed the moment my mom gave her an old lady’s name.” His eyes widening. “Just don’t tell my grandma I said that she almost didn’t forgive me last time, she’s really proud of her name.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong there,” Annabeth mumbled and in a more teasing tone added. “But you didn’t want to join them!? And miss all the fun of bingo with all ladies?”

“I know right? I was really tempted to spend my birthday surrounded of my grandma’s friends pinching my cheeks and telling me how much I’ve grown, but sadly I had to let that opportunity pass.” He winked at her. “And come here to ask for a partner in crime to come with me on an adventure.”

“You want Latte as your partner in crime?” She asked innocently and Percy shook his head.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think Latte can go to where I’m planning to go next.”

“And that is?”

Percy stood up from the stool walked towards her. “You see, I recently became friends with some people, and this group of friends have a tradition.” He was standing in front of her, leaning his body towards her and in an exaggerated whisper added. “They like to spend their birthdays at Disneyland.” He stopped and stood straight again. “Actually scratch that, they love to spend time at the parks but let’s focus on the tradition.”

Annabeth snorted at his words. “Do they?”  

“Yeah, this group is Disney obsessed, like it’s kind of weird.” She slapped his arm playfully, making him laugh. “But I like this kind of weird, and I like their tradition so I think I want to honor it.”

Annabeth gasped excitedly. “Do you want to go to Disneyland!? Do you have a complimentary ticket from Hazel or Frank? I can text them and ask if they can sign you in, or I can buy your ticket! It could part of your birthday present!” She said rapidly, excitement bursting from her words.

“Woah, woah, calm down.” Percy gently held her arms trying to calm her down, his voice light and happy. “Jeez, I feel like the next thing I’m going to tell you is going to give you a heart attack.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to treat myself for my birthday, I’m getting an annual pass.” He said and Annabeth squealed making him laugh. “Oh my god, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy.”

“This means I can drag you to the parks whenever I want!”

“Yes, but now I’m gonna drag you to the parks with me so we can get my annual pass.”

Annabeth started jumping. “I’m so excited, let’s go, let’s go.” She started grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the door, he was laughing so hard and it was only making her happier.

“Damn, it looks like you’re the one getting the fast pass.”

“I can buy you the max pass to add your annual pass as a birthday present.” Annabeth was about to open the front door and stopped. “Wait, your birthday present.”

“You don’t have to get me anything, seriously, just spending the day with you is more than enough.”

“No, no, I already have a present for you.” She pointed to the table in the living room where a box was resting. “Like, I want you to open it now but also…Disneyland.”

Percy snorted. “I can open it tonight if you want to.”

“I kind of want you to open it now,” Annabeth said. “I guess I can drive and you can open it? But then again I’m tired.”

“Oh shit, I slept in and you had to wake up early for work.”

“No, it’s okay, I got it, I can drive and make a detour to Dunkin Donuts so you can open your present and you drive on the way back.”

Percy nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” He took his car keys from his pockets. “Do you want to drive my jeep?”

Annabeth smiled at him before taking the keys from his hands. “Dah!” She started to walk outside when she realized she was still wearing her work clothes and she looked at him sheepishly. “Actually, just let me change really quick.”

***

“Okay, I so need to record this,” Annabeth took out her phone from her pocket once they were next in line to get into the park. “Your first time using your annual pass.”

“You are terrible,” he said but there was a smile on his face, the people in front of them walked into the park and it was their turn.

Annabeth greeted the cast member who scanned her pass and walked over the turnstile. “This is his first time using his annual pass and it’s his birthday.” she said to the nice old lady whose tag read ‘ _Gabrielle_ ’ and started recording with her phone.

“Oh, is it? Well then, happy birthday!” She grabbed Percy’s pass and smiled at him. “I’m going to need to take a quick picture for the system and then you’re good to go.” She quickly took a picture of Percy. “Enjoy your day, Prince Percy.”

“And you’re in!” Annabeth celebrated once he walked in, Percy raised his arm in celebration and made a funny face towards her phone. “And she called you prince! I’ve never heard them call a guy prince before!”

“You are terrible, did you know that?”

“You still like me either way,” she said without thinking while putting her phone away, when he didn’t say anything in response she looked up at him ready to apologize but he was looking at her with an intensity that made her forget how to breathe.

“I do, a lot.” He said and walked towards her, offering his hand to her. “Shall we go, my princess?” He said in a terrible British accent.

She took his hand and in the poshest voice she could muster, said. “Lead the way, your Highness.”

Walking hand in hand down Main Street was making Annabeth happy in a way she couldn’t explain. She and Percy hadn’t become a couple yet, they haven’t even kissed, but since that day at the beach they had become closer than they were before. And now, with their interlocked hands happily swinging between them, she was feeling a calm she never knew it was possible, even more so with the way every nerve in her body reacted to his touch, she was feeling happy and content. Not that she hadn’t felt happy before, but the way she felt with Percy was something she wasn’t sure how to explain. It was like watching the sunset over the mountains for the first time in a National Park, or the first time you ever jumped into a lake or taking the first sip of hot chocolate on the first cold day of the season. It was a feeling you didn’t know could exist until you lived it.

“We need to get your ears,” Annabeth said suddenly. “We can’t have you celebrating your birthday here and not get you ears.”

“I don’t need ears,” Percy said while she pulled him back towards the start of Main Street so they could go into the Emporium.

“I’m getting you ears, Percy, it’s your birthday and I don’t make the rules.”

“You kind of make the rules, and you already paid for my max pass and let’s not forget that amazing birthday care package you made me.”

Annabeth looked at him. “I think Sorcerer Mickey Ears would look amazing on you.” They walked into the store and Annabeth started looking at the Mickey ears.

“Annabeth, you’ve already spent so much…” Percy started to say and Annabeth put her finger to his lips.

“It’s your birthday, you are my…” She wasn’t sure how to refer to him, _friend_ didn’t cover how she felt about him but he wasn’t her boyfriend yet. “You are someone I deeply care about and I like to spoil the people I care about, even more on their birthdays, believe me when I say this, I can afford this and I want to do this for you.”

Percy was looking intently at her, trying to find something in her eyes and he did because he sighed and said. “Okay, you win but if you buy me ears then I’m buying you ears.”

“I don’t nee-” She started to say but Percy put his finger to her lips.

“I’m the birthday boy, I make the rules.” He said dryly and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Fine, you win.”

***

“Do you want to do one last ride before heading back?” They were sitting on a bench on Buena Vista Street, Annabeth eating a Mickey Ice Cream Bar while Percy devoured a churro. The park was full, a combination of it being summer and the weekend, and most of the fast passes were gone and the ones left were too late since they had to leave in less than an hour for his birthday dinner. Percy looked at her, his mouth full from the last bite of churro he was still chewing and he looked so cute and hilarious with his ears that she took a picture of him. “And this is totally your new contact picture.”

It took a few seconds for Percy to swallow before he could reply. “That was uncalled for Chase.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She finished setting the picture to his contact on her phone and opened the Disney app to see what rides had the least waiting time.

“I’m going to get back at you.”

“You can try but you won’t succeed.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “You know it’s a busy day when The Jungle Cruise has a wait time of 40 minutes.”

“What about the Mickey wheel?” Percy asked. “How long is the line?”

“Um,” Annabeth scrolled on her phone. “Thirty minutes for the normal one and an hour for the swinging ones.”

“Let’s do the normal ones,” Percy said excitedly, he stood up and grabbed Annabeth by her arm and started nudging her to get up.

“Okay, okay! I’m coming, jeez! I didn’t know you felt so strongly about the Mickey Wheel.”

Running was not allowed in the parks, so Percy power walked his way to Pixar Pier, Annabeth trailing behind him, she would have probably lost him in the crowd if he wasn’t he holding her hand. Barely moving in the line of the ride was starting to remind her how tired she was and how little she had slept the previous night but Percy was bursting with energy, she was almost sure it had to do with all the sugar they had eaten at the park, she was sure her body was currently running on sugar and caffeine and she just knew she was going to crash really bad once her sugar high ended. She and Percy had fallen into a comfortable silence, she grabbed her phone and started scrolling her social media feeds until it was their turn to get into the cart.

“Have you ever been on this ride before?” Annabeth asked once they started moving and Percy shook his head. He was sitting in front of her and was avoiding looking at her, and was instead nervously looking towards the view of the park. “Percy are you okay? You’re not afraid of heights, right?” They had been on a ferris wheel before but it wasn’t as tall as this one but then again, he had ridden the Guardians of Galaxy ride a few times already and he seemed to enjoy it.

“It’s not that,” He said and took a deep breath and finally faced her. “Can I sit next to you?” Annabeth nodded and Percy quickly changed seats. “How many times does this go around?”

“Um, two I think?”

“Okay, I have time then.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, confused. Percy took her hands in his and gently guided her so they were facing each other “Perce?”

“The first time I thought about kissing you was at the Spectrum,” Percy said and Annabeth’s heart started beating at a fast rate, his words spreading hope around her body. “We were on the ferris wheel and you were talking about your dreams, you were somehow glowing with happiness and there was this passion in your voice talking about it and that was the first time I thought it.”

“That you wanted to kiss me?” She asked quietly, afraid to break the moment.

“That there was something special about you. With every word you said I felt this pull towards you, it was like seeing you in a new light, maybe it was the sun on your hair making you glow, but Annabeth, at that moment you took my breath away and I never got it back.” He let go of one of her hands and rested his hand against her cheek, she leaned into his touch and she could feel his thumb caressing her skin. “Having you in my life is something I never thought possible, not after my past, and every day I started to fall more and more for you and it scared the crap out of me because I was afraid of having you, fucking up and losing you, so I took my time.”

“You took a lot of time,” she said hoarsely, trying to keep the tears away. He laughed and rested his forehead against hers.

“I did and I’m sorry, but I wanted to make sure I was in ready, because you’re special and wonderful and amazing and you deserved to know about my past before we tried something together and then I was scared of telling you my past, I was scared it would push you away or change your feelings toward me.”

“Percy no, that would never make me think less of you.” Annabeth kissed the inside of his wrist and moved her hand to touch his forearm. “The opposite, it made me see how strong and brave you are, because you went through hell and you’re still one of the kindest people I know, you didn’t let your past define you, you fell, true, but you also got up and kept going, but now you don’t have to walk alone because I’m here with you.”

“I know and that’s why-,” the wheel stopped moving and Percy looked behind them towards the park, Annabeth followed his gaze. They were at the top of the wheel, in the corner of her mind she realized this was probably their second stop but before she could think too much about it, Percy’s eyes locked back on hers. “And that’s why I love you.” He pulled her towards him and when their lips met, Annabeth could have sworn the fireworks went off.        

***

By the time they made it to the restaurant, Percy and Annabeth were over an hour late, their texts to their friends said the traffic was terrible but in reality, they had spent half an hour making out in the Disneyland parking lot and another half an hour making out in the Spectrum parking lot. Their friends were sitting at the outside tables of Urban Seoul sharing appetizers and Leo was the first to notice their presence.

“Look who finally decided to show,” Leo said the moment he saw them come closer. “We weren’t sure if you guys were going to come at all.”

“Yeah, we were about to start eating the birthday cake,” Hazel added and stood up to hug Percy. The rest of their friends followed her lead, hugging Percy and wishing him happy birthday, after greeting her friends Annabeth sat down next to Piper and started looking at the menu.

“Okay, so what’s the real reason you two were late?” Piper whispered, Annabeth looked at her trying to act as innocent as possible and shrugged. “Cut the lies, Chase, Hazel texted that she was leaving work the same time you texted me about traffic and somehow she still made it a lot faster than you two.”

“The parking structure was full and a lot of people were leaving,” Annabeth said nonchalantly, trying to keep her poker face. Inside she was dying to tell her everything but she wasn’t sure if dinner was the right moment to talk about it. She knew the conversation would have a lot of squealing and loud laughs and maybe she was being a little selfish, but as much as she loved their friends, she wanted to have that conversation with Piper alone, she was her best friend after all.

“Percy you have something on your lips,” Hazel said and looked at Annabeth. “Actually, you do too, Annabeth, did you guys eat something on the way here?”

Hazel had asked in the most innocent way, but unfortunately for Annabeth, that question had made Piper curious and she was staring at Percy “That’s lipstick.” Piper said and then turned to look at Annabeth who was trying her best not to laugh. “That’s Annabeth’s lipstick.” Piper gasped and started hitting Annabeth on her shoulder excitedly. “Holy shit did you guys…?”

“What’s going on?” Jason asked confused.

Annabeth looked at Percy, who was sitting on her left, at the head of the table, he was holding back a laugh when he caught her looking at him and raised his eyebrows at her. Annabeth had put the lipstick on after their second make out session, trying to hide the swelling Percy’s lips had caused on hers, but Percy had stolen a few kisses during their walk to the restaurant and neither of them had realized her lipstick had ended up on his lips. Annabeth turned to face Piper, who was still tapping her shoulder waiting for a reply, but before she could open her mouth Percy spoke.

“Piper, I would really appreciate it if you’d stop hitting my _girlfriend_.” The table went quiet as if their friends were still processing Percy’s words. Annabeth, herself was trying her best not to melt, hearing him say those words for the first time was making butterflies fly in her belly. After what felt minutes, but was probably a couple of seconds, the table broke out in cheers. Annabeth laughed and accepted their friends congratulations while Percy interlocked their hands and raised them in the air causing more cheer and applause from their friends. She looked at Piper who was smiling so hard at her. She grabbed her friend’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze and Piper winked at her, catching what Annabeth was trying to say to her, that she would tell her everything first thing tomorrow.

***

“Are you sure you have to go to sleep?” Percy whispered against her lips between kisses.

Annabeth gave him one long kiss before pulling away. “If I don’t go now we're going to reenact Sleeping Beauty.”

“Which part? Because I don’t feel like fighting a dragon.”

“The one where you kiss me while I’m sleeping.”

“Isn’t that what wakes her up? So following that logic we should _keep_ kissing.”

Annabeth laughed tirelessly and rested her head against the door, they were standing outside, trying and failing to say goodnight for a while now. While their friends ended up going to watch a movie after dinner, Annabeth had called it a night, excluding her dinner, she had survived the day on caffeine and sugar and her body was finally shutting down. Her friends had teased them mercilessly when Percy had also called it a day and offered to drive her home. Their supposed chaste goodnight kiss had turned passionate and then Annabeth had changed their pace to slow lazy kisses. As much as Annabeth wanted to invite Percy into the house so she could keep kissing him and touching him, she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

“We can keep kissing tomorrow.” She moved her hands from his hair to his shoulders.

“And the day after?” Percy's hands were still resting on her lower back, caressing her over her shirt.

“And the day after that.” Annabeth closed her eyes and was starting to fall asleep against the door when Percy embraced her and shook her, making her yelp in surprise.

“Come on, babe, stay awake a little bit more, you need to unlock the door and make it to your room.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him, but she was feeling absolutely giddy over the pet name. “ _Babe_?”

“Yeah…” His cheeks turned red, he was added. “If that’s okay with you?”

“I think I’m absolutely fine with it.” She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “So fine I want to keep kissing you but I need to open the door.”

In her sleepy state, it took her a little bit to find her keys in her bag and unlock the front door, making Percy quietly laugh. “Was it a good birthday?” She asked once she managed to open to door.

“The best,” he replied sincerely and she smiled at him.

“Good, text me when you get home.”

“You’re probably going to be sleeping by then, but sure.”

“See you tomorrow, Perce,”

“See you tomorrow, _babe_ ”

Annabeth blew him a kiss before closing the front door and going up the stairs to her room. She was feeling peaceful in a way she had never felt before, her heart was filled with warmth and happiness, she went into her room and about to change into her pj’s when she saw a package on her bed. On top of it was a note in what she recognized as Piper’s handwriting.

“ _Hope soon is really soon but in the meantime, work it, baby,_ ” She read out loud before focusing on the package, she burst out laughing when she saw it was from Victoria’s Secret. Shaking her head at her friends' antics she picked the package up with a smile and left it on her dressing table. That was a whole different type of soon she would have to think about, but for now the faster she went to sleep, the faster she would wake up and kiss Percy again and with a smile that seemed have been on her face all day, she went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the story has reached to its end! I mean there is an epilogue left but this is it! It's so weird to think this story is pretty much almost over, it's my first multi-chapter fic and is my longest fic. Thank you so much for all the kudos, and comments and all the love this story has gotten. I hope you guys enjoyed this little story and had brought some joy to your life.
> 
> Lastly, I want to thank Lauren, my best friend, my beta and the reason why this story was created in the first place. Thank you for being with me on every step of the way and for driving me around in San Clemente to places I mentioned in this story so I could see them in person (Like Ruby's or the Fisherman!) This story wouldn't exist without you.


	10. Like the summer sunshine pour your sweetness over me.

If running around airports wasn’t stressful enough, running with two massive suitcases and two backpacks made it harder. And after two international flights and one domestic flight, all Piper could do was be grateful they had finally reached their final destination.

“I left California with a half-empty suitcase, how the fuck did this happen,” Piper grumbled while pushing her cart through _LAX_.

“You have no self-control when it comes to buying stuff,” Annabeth replied. Unlike Piper, she had only one massive suitcase she was rolling behind her, and a small carry-on.

“I absolutely do have self-control.”

“One and half of your suitcases are just souvenirs, and that’s not including all the crap you threw into my suitcase.”

“Well you’re leaving me and I needed to fill the Annabeth hole in my heart somehow.” Piper found two empty chairs and collapsed in one of them. “I can’t believe you’re not coming home with me.”

Annabeth sat down next to her. “Tell me about it, I don’t have a home to arrive to.”

“Okay, I was being dramatic, but now you’re overreacting”. Piper took her phone out to see if Leo had texted again, but besides the ‘ _stuck in stupid traffic’_ he’d sent twenty minutes ago, there weren’t any new messages.

“I’m not being dramatic. All my stuff is in boxes at your house or in Percy’s or in the new apartment.”

“Keyword, _new_ apartment.”

“That’s not going to be ready to move into for four more days.” Annabeth closed her eyes and sighed. “Planning the move around the time of this trip seemed like a good idea at the time but right now all I want to do is kick my past self in the ass, why did I think this was a good idea?”

“See Piper,” Piper said, mocking Annabeth’s voice, “I’ll have everything packed already and then I can just unpack everything in my new house.”  She smirked, winning a playful glare from her friend.

Annabeth sighed again. “I can’t believe we’re not going to be roommates anymore.”

“I need you to remember that you did this yourself,” Piper said making Annabeth chuckle.

“Sounded like a good idea at the time.”

Piper was about to say something when Annabeth’s phone went off, even before she answered Piper already knew who was calling. If the personalized ringtone didn’t give it away, Annabeth’s full smiled did.

While Annabeth talked with Percy, Piper closed her eyes and let her body relax for the first time in hours. Traveling Europe for three weeks with her best friend had been the trip of a lifetime, and while Piper was looking forward to being back in California with Jason, who she missed terribly, part of her didn’t want to be back. Being back in California meant that Annabeth was officially no longer living with her. Annabeth had been a constant in her life for the past seven years and now she was moving out and it was like an era had ended. When they had started planning the trip a year ago they never imagined how different things would be by then. It wasn’t just Annabeth moving out, but also the fact that Jason had been living with her, _them_ , since February. Annabeth had promised and swore that Jason moving in hadn’t been the reason she had decided to get her own place, but Piper couldn’t help but feel a little heartbroken. Annabeth was _her_  person. The way Christina was Meredith’s or Ron was Harry’s, the one she had called countless times at three in the morning to come and pick her up after a bad hookup, the one that knew her so well, it had been Annabeth and her for so long and now everything was changing. She loved Jason with all her heart and waking up every day next to the love of her life for the past seven months had been like a dream come true, but Annabeth was her family somehow, the sister she always wanted but never had.

“ _Señoritas_ ,” a familiar voice made Piper open her eyes, Leo was standing in front of them, grinning.

“Leo!” Piper laughed and stood to hug her friend. She could hear Annabeth saying goodbye to Percy and hanging up before she joined the hug. “Los tres amigos are back together.”

“Piper, darling, you really need to work on your Spanish,” Leo said and Piper slapped his arm playfully.

“She did,” Annabeth said while she grabbed her suitcase and followed Leo to the parking lot, Piper did the same while struggling with her stuff, Leo being the amazing friend he was, didn’t offer to help her so she stuck the heavier suitcase handle in his hand. “She managed to not get us lost in Barcelona, and she actually had a few decent conversations.”

“Unlike Annabeth, who has been living in a city where Spanish is as common as English  and yet she has a better grasp of Greek, a language that’s useless here.”

“You didn’t think my knowledge of Greek was useless when you were about to pee yourself and needed a bathroom in Delphi.”

“No, but it was useless when we were tipsy in Barcelona and needed directions back to the hotel.”

“Oh man,” Leo said. “I honestly need to hear all about the trip right now, don’t leave any details out.”

***

“Are you okay?” Leo asked once they were back in the car. They had just dropped Annabeth at Percy’s apartment and Piper was doing her best trying to hold back tears. It was officially the end of an era. She wasn’t sure why this was affecting her so much, after all, Annabeth wasn’t moving to the other side of the world, she was going to be only a ten-minute drive away from her.

“Yeah,” Piper said weakly.

“It’s okay if you’re not, after all, I wasn’t okay when you went to Stanford.” If there was one person who knew Piper better than Annabeth, it was Leo. He had been her partner in crime for almost fifteen years and counting, she wouldn’t have been able to survive High School without him and  _ah,_ this feeling was similar to what she had felt when High School ended and she and Leo had gone their separate ways. She went up north to college and he decided to stop with his studies and work full time with his mom. “Do you think our friendship changed after High School?”

“No,” Piper sniffed. “I think it became stronger.”

“So cry it out, Pipes, but remember that while this chapter with Annabeth is ending in your life, you’re starting a new one with Jason but that doesn’t mean Annabeth is not going to be a prominent character in your story. We’ve told you this many times, no matter what you are stuck with her and me forever.”

Piper smiled at him, even if he couldn’t see her because he was driving. “The three musketeers.”

“Por siempre y para siempre.”

“When did you become so smart?”

“You do realize I graduated High School with better grades than you?”

Piper playfully slapped his arm. He was right, after all, Leo was crazy smart and he could ace all of his exams, the problem had been he didn’t like school, he never did his homework and she had to force him to go to class more often than not. Leo could have gone to any college he wanted, but he hadn’t wanted it, instead, he stayed in the city with his mom. He was an amazing mechanic and according to him, no degree would have helped him get better.

“You’re an asshole and I love you.”

“I love you too, you jerk.” 

***

The house felt empty, which Piper knew was ridiculous, but Annabeth’s coffee and mugs were no longer in the kitchen, her shoes were no longer on the little stand near the kitchen window. When Piper went down to the kitchen at six in the morning, thanks to her jetlag, she almost broke down crying when she remembered that Latte was not going to follow her and beg for treats, the house was too quiet without him. Maybe it was the jetlag making her too emotional, but she had also spent the first week of college crying and calling Leo every moment possible. Piper closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again, her eyes analyzing the kitchen trying to find differences. Annabeth’s bag of coffee was gone, that was true, but in its place was Jason’s favorite coffee. His Star Wars kitchen appliances were scattered across the counter, their zoo photo booth picture was on the fridge, next to little sticky notes Jason left her from time to time and the magnets from the places they had visited together, there weren’t many so far, but it was a growing collection. There was a jar on their kitchen island, filled with different chocolates from Jason’s work. Piper closed her eyes again, but this time a smile was on her face. New feelings emerging from her heart, Annabeth moved out but Jason was living with her, the boy she loved with all he heart was the first person she spoke every morning and the last one she talked with every night. Piper knew how to live with Annabeth and then later with Annabeth _and_ Jason, but she didn’t know how it was going to be living with Jason and Jason only and she could feel a rush going through her body, excitement bursting out of her at that thought.

Sound coming from upstairs made Piper smile, Jason’s heavy steps moving around their room, his alarm clock going off (the fact he was always awake before his alarm went off and him refusing to change the alarm time was something Piper found hilarious and endearing). After six months of living with him, Piper knew Jason’s routine by heart, so when he came down twenty minutes later, hair still damp from his shower and wearing his work clothes, she was already expecting him with his coffee and breakfast made.

“Good morning hot stuff,” Piper said when he walked into the kitchen. “Slept well?”

“Have a feeling I slept better than you.” He kissed her cheek and gladly took the coffee mug she was offering him. “How is that jetlag going?”

“I woke up at four in the morning.”

Jason made a face. “Ouch,”

“I caught up with Netflix.” She pointed to the cream cheese and avocado toast. “And made breakfast.” His eyes illuminated at the sight of food.

“I love you.”

“I know.”

“Don’t Star Wars me.”

Piper stuck her tongue out at him. “I love you too, dummy.”

“How are you holding up?” Jason asked her between bites.

“I just told you I’ve been awake for a few hours.”

“Pipes, that’s not what I mean and you know it.”

“Was it hard moving out from Percy’s place?”

Jason shrugged. “Yes and No? It was weird a little bit, going from living with him to living with two girls and a dog. I was _not_ ready for the hair.”

Piper gasped and jokingly threw a napkin at him.

Jason raised his arms in surrender. “I don’t know why you feel so sad about Annabeth, I keep finding her hair everywhere, it’s like she never moved out in the first place.”

“You do have a point there.”

“But seriously, I was sad, Percy is my best friend after all, but I was also really excited to move in with you.” Jason finished the last bite of his toast and moved his plate to the sink. “But then again, I also see Percy daily at work and I didn’t live with him since sophomore year of college.”

“Do you think I’m being ridiculous and overacting?” Piper asked shyly.

“Never.”

“And…” Piper took a deep breath, this was the one thing she had been terrified of asking him, but she and Jason had amazing communication and she was not going to change that. “Are you mad that I keep feeling so sad about her moving out? Like we are now officially living together, just you and me.”

“And you are allowed to feel sad and happy, you don’t have to live one emotion at a time, you have never lived like that, why start now?”

“I love you, so much.” Piper wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. “How long till your shift stars?”

“Less than an hour.”

She wrapped her legs around his torso, he guided them so she was sitting on the kitchen island. “I can work with that.”

“Just don’t fall asleep like last night.”

“I was jetlagged!”

Jason smiled against her lips. “You still are.”

“Shut up and kiss me, Grace.”

*** 

She woke up to fifteen texts from Annabeth, it was around three in the afternoon and Leo was on his way to keep her from falling asleep again, the next day was Percy’s birthday and Piper wanted to not walk around Disneyland like a zombie, even if that meant she would walk around like a zombie today until it was dark enough for her to pass out in her bed again. Instead of texting Annabeth back, Piper decided to call her friend who picked up after three rings.

“Please tell me the jetlag is killing you too.”

“Please Piper,” Annabeth said on the other end of the line. “I’m an architect, I live tired and sleepless, jetlag has nothing against my deadlines.”

“And the fact that you’re staying at the Grand Californian has nothing to do with it?” To say Annabeth treated herself that summer was an understatement. She had booked two nights at the Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel for her and Percy to celebrate his birthday and their one year anniversary. “Look at you, being the rich white girl you were born to be.”

“Shut up, you asshole, do I have to remind you about the mansion you grew up in?” Annabeth teased making her laugh. “Percy got off his shift not long ago, Pipes, we haven’t been here long.” Piper put the phone on speaker and went back to unpacking. “The fact that I slept twelve hours last night is what helped me.”

“Ugh, I’m so jealous, I woke up at three in the morning and then fell back asleep a few hours ago.”

“Ouch, if it makes you feel better there’s a high chance I’m going to pass out like around eight.”

“So you better give Percy his birthday present soon.”

“Oh, my god Piper.”

“You don’t want to fall asleep during his birthday sex.”

“Talking from experience McLean?”

“Talking about last night.”

Annabeth’s laugh was so loud Piper was glad the phone wasn’t resting against her ear. “Oh _no_!”

“It’s okay, round two was better.”

“Well, Percy and I are about to go to the pools soon,” Annabeth said. “And then maybe, he can have his present.” She added in a lower voice, probably making sure Percy didn’t hear her.

“Well tomorrow’s your anniversary so I hope he gets you a present too,” Piper said in a sing-song voice.

Annabeth snorted. “You are terrible.”

“You still love me.”

“Unfortunately,” Annabeth said and it was followed by a beat of silence. “I am going to see you tomorrow, right?”

“Babe, you can move out all you want, but you are never getting rid of me.” Piper could hear Percy talking to Annabeth in the background. “We can talk tomorrow, go and have fun in the pools and then in the room with your boy, Chase.”

“Oh, I’ll definitely will,” Annabeth said. “I miss you.”

Piper smiled. “It’s weird not having you around, even weirder after being with you 24/7 for three weeks.”

“Tell me about it, I was confused this morning when I woke up and didn’t see you.”

“How disappointing it must have been seeing Percy instead of my beautiful face.”

“Ugh, I didn’t even see him, he was already at work when I woke up.”

“Well enjoy his ugly face today but don’t worry, you will see my beautiful face tomorrow.”

“I better.” Piper heard a door close on Annabeth’s side of the line and Percy’s voice but she couldn’t figure what he was saying. “Percy wants you to know you can come and hang out with us at the pool.”

“As tempting as the idea sounds, Leo’s on his way to pick me, we’re going to the Spectrum and Jason is going to catch up with us after work.”

“Making sure you don’t take another nap?”

“They want me to be at least somewhat functional tomorrow.”

“Okay then, see you tomorrow, love you!”

“Love you too!” Piper said, and before she hung up she heard Percy yelling he loved her too, making her laugh.

***

It was barely eight pm but Piper could barely keep her eyes open. She and Jason were laying on the couch upstairs, watching some Netflix, she wasn’t sure what it was about, but her head was resting in his lap, he was playing with her hair, making her feel happy and content.

“I missed this,” Piper said happily.

“I missed you, playing with Percy’s hair wasn’t the same as this.”

She couldn’t help the mix of snort/laugh she made. “I’m sure he loved it.”

“Not as much as I love you.”

“Damn, smooth, Grace.”

“Thank you, I try my best.” He paused Netflix. “How are you feeling?”

“My brain thinks Annabeth is on vacation and she’s coming back soon.” Piper interlaced their fingers. “But at the same time, I’m over the moon that you and I are here, living together in _our_ house.”

“Is it silly that I love the sound of that? Our house?”

“Nah, I get giddy thinking about how we need to go to Ikea and pick out stuff together for the house now that Annabeth has taken all her stuff with her.”

“Why does she own so many lamps?” Jason’s asked, incredulous. “Like she left us without lamps.”

“She also owns too many plates and glasses but that’s Percy’s problem now.”

Jason hummed in agreement, they stayed in silence for a while, Jason still caressing her hair and soothing her to sleep. “I can’t wait too.”

“ _Hm_?” Piper asked sleepily.

“To make this house ours.” Jason cleared his throat. “I mean it was ours but it was also Annabeth’s and yours and, but now it’s ours.”

“We could make this room our master bedroom.”

“Yeah?”

“Rearrange downstairs and put the TV there.”

“I like that, but we should probably plan this when you are not seconds away from passing out.”

Piper mumbled in agreement and mustering all her will power she stood up. “Okay, I’m calling it a day, wake me up tomorrow when I need to start getting ready for the park.”

“Percy texted us that we should meet around eleven in the morning or so.”

“Oh, yes, bless his beautiful heart.” Piper stretched and kissed Jason goodnight. “Goodnight, hot stuff.”

“’Night, oh yeah, you got mail, it’s on your nightstand,” Jason told her before she left the room.

“’Kay, night.”

Brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed took her longer than it usually did. She was exhausted and her body was begging her to just go to the bed and sleep. After what felt like forever she was finally pulling her covers away and sitting on her side of the bed and grabbing the mail on her night table. The first one was a bill that she ignored but after that, there were a few postcards, from the places she just visited.

She turned the postcards around and her suspicions were correct, every single one of them was from Annabeth. Some were long and some had just a few words written on them, others only had a memory of that city, so far the postcards only were from the first half of their trip, the other half were probably on their way. But it was the first one, the one from Paris, the first stop of their trip, that was the longest. The postcard was filled with words telling her how lucky she was to have Piper in her life and her best friend, how she was going to cherish the memories she would make on the trip for the rest of her life, how she was sad about moving out but happy they were having a last hurrah before starting a new chapter in their lives, and how at the end of the day, Piper was not only her best friend but the sister she never had. By the time she finished reading all the postcards, tears were making their way down her cheeks, but a smile was shining on her face.

While she was going to still be sad about not living with her best friend, this was somehow the closure she didn’t know she needed. Leo and Annabeth were right, Piper was starting a new chapter in her life, but just because her chapter with Annabeth as her roommate had ended, it didn’t mean things would change for bad between them, after all, she and Leo were still as close as they were in High School. Annabeth was still going to be her person, but now, as she turned down her night light and pulled Jason’s pillow close to her, letting his smell surround her, she was starting a new page and she couldn’t wait to see what adventures were waiting for Jason and her in the future.

*** 

Latte was running around the living room, only stopping to sniff boxes before going back to running around. Annabeth was going through a lot of mixed feelings, excitement and happiness were the prominent ones, but there was some sadness about not having Piper by her side, and there was a small hint of weirdness. The new apartment wasn’t small, but after living in a house for years, it felt weird not having to take the stairs to get to her room from the kitchen. She was sure there was going to be more than one occasion where she was going to wake up confused about where she was. She walked around the apartment, it was still empty, excluding the kitchen, the only furniture she had moved in with anticipation was the mattress in the master bedroom, having a place to crash after the full day of unpacking had been a priority on her list. She looked around the open space, there was no wall separating the living room from the kitchen, but the space where both were located was more than spacious and Annabeth couldn’t wait to see the final result when she had finally settled in. Annabeth’s favorite feature of the apartment and the reason why she bought it was the _view_. Her apartment building was located on a cliff overlooking the ocean, the wall facing the ocean had a massive floor to ceiling window/sliding door that led to a small balcony but even without going outside, you could see the mix of blue coming from the ocean and the sky and on a good day, she could even see the silhouette of Catalina Island.    

“I can get used to this view.” Percy’s arm wrapped around her waist and he rested his chin on her shoulder.  “I can’t believe I get to see this view first thing every morning.”

“Are you talking about the ocean or about me?” Annabeth joked.

“Both.” He spun her around so she could face him, Percy was smiling at her, full blinding smile, making her go weak in her knees. She loved that even after a year of dating he still had this effect on her. “We are actually doing this.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. She and Percy were moving in together and Annabeth couldn’t hide her giddiness. When she had first started looking at places, Percy and her living together hadn’t really been on her mind, but with Jason moving out of his apartment, and Percy’s needing a roommate and his lease ending soon. She and Percy didn’t rush into the decision of it, they actually had long conversations about it and they had agreed that it was time for them to take the next step in their relationship, besides it wasn’t like they didn’t stay at each other’s place more often than not.

“We are.” Annabeth smiled at him. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“By the way, you need to sign your lease.”

Percy raised his eyebrows at her. “My lease?”

Annabeth winked at him and guided him to the kitchen island where a folder was laying. “Remember when you said you wanted to pay rent because I bought the place and it was fair and I said you were crazy?”

“Did you finally change your mind? You do realize I still mean it, right.”

“And I still mean when I say we are just going to split the bills.”

“Then what is this?” Percy picked up the folder.

“Why don’t you read it and find out?”

Percy raised an eyebrow at her, before slowly opening the folder and reading out loud. “The _tenant_ , Mr. Perseus Jackson, agrees to move in with Miss. Annabeth Chase, _landlord_ , under the terms that he,” He couldn’t hide the amusement in his voice as he kept reading. “Will bake her cupcakes, preferably shirtless, at least once a month. Will take Latte Chase on a walk if Miss Chase is working late and, will cuddle Miss Chase after she comes back late from work. Mr. Jackson also accepts to be in charge of the kitchen since Miss Chase is a walking hazard. Miss Chase also accepts to help keep the kitchen clean as long as she is not expected to cook.” Percy tried his best to read the contract without laughing but by the time he reached the end, he couldn’t stop laughing.

“It’s a _very_ official lease.”

“Yeah, I can see that, very, very official.” He put the folder down as his laughter started to dissipate. “Do you have a pen? So I can sign this very official lease.” Annabeth smiled at him while offering him a pen, chuckling, Percy took it and signed the lease. “Well it’s official now, we are living together.”

“I think we should celebrate.”

“Oh yeah?” Percy smirked at her, that trouble maker smirk that was reserved only for her, the one that he gave her when he was up to no good. “Well, what do you have in mind?”

He closed the distance between them and pulled her in for a kiss, their lips were moving desperately against each other, and Percy tried to guide her to their room, only to crash against a pile of boxes. Laughing, they separated to make sure there hadn’t been any damage to their stuff.

“Annabeth,” Percy said, confusion evident in his voice. “Why are there like four boxes that say lamps?”

“Oh yeah, about that….”

*** 

“Wake up sleepy head, or you’re not going to get breakfast before work.”

Annabeth grunted and pulled her sheets closer to her chin, she had been hitting snooze on her alarm clock for over half an hour now, her body refusing to leave the warmth of her bed. “No.”

Percy laughed from where he was kneeling on the floor, next to the mattress. “Come on babe, I have coffee and a bagel from Dunkin Donuts.” He started shaking her shoulder making her groan.

“Five more minutes.”

“You have been saying that to your phone for half an hour.”

Yawning, she finally sat down on the bed only to blink a few times trying to remember where she was, the window was on the wrong side of the room and the bed was too low. Oh, _right_ , she was in her new apartment she shared with Percy, even in her sleepy state she felt giddy remembering that. Percy kissed her hair before leaving the room.

She was glad she had prepared her work clothes in advance since there were still a lot of boxes laying around the apartment. She and Percy had spent the whole day yesterday unpacking, well more like the afternoon till night time, she had overslept yesterday, still fighting a little of bit of jetlag, and ended up leaving their hotel room just in time for checkout and went straight to Percy’s place to move all their boxes to his jeep and into the new place.

When she finally walked into the living room, Percy was leaning against the kitchen island (they still didn’t have chairs) eating his breakfast. He smiled at her and Annabeth felt butterflies go around her belly, this was going to be her new normal routine, waking up next to him (or being woken up by him, he was the morning person out of them, after all) having breakfast with him and then at night, falling asleep with him. Within all the joy she was feeling, there was still sadness with it, missing Piper and their routine, but she knew no matter what her best friend was just one call away.   

“Are you feeling okay to drive? Or do you want me to drive you to work? You had quite the full weekend.”

Annabeth gave him a quick peck and accepted the coffee he was offering her. “We had the same weekend.”

“Yeah but only one of us spent a full day on a plane before that weekend.”

“And unlike Piper, I spent most of that trip sleeping.”

“So is that a no?”

Annabeth contemplated her answer, she was still feeling sleepy and her body was hurting, she was probably going to need a naproxen at some point in the day. Plus she and Percy still needed to go to Ikea and Target to pick up the furniture they had been looking at online, having him picking her up from work in his jeep from the start made things easier. “No, that’s a yes.”

“Good, now, if you are not going to eat your bagel anytime soon I’m not responsible if it somehow ends up in my mouth.”

***

“See, I like this coffee table, but do we really need it?”

She and Percy were at Target buying stuff for their new place, something they hadn’t really taken into consideration before moving out of their previous places was that neither of them actually owned furniture, and between Annabeth’s trip and them wanting to choose it together, well, they had been surviving with two old coffee tables from Percy’s grandma. There were a few things about moving into a new place with your boyfriend that Annabeth hadn’t considered before, when she lived with Piper there was a clear _this is my stuff and this is yours_ even if they both used it all the time, but with Percy it wasn’t like that, it was this is _our_ stuff, which sounded romantic until their styles clashed. Annabeth was wondering how they had agreed on an Ikea couch so easily but choosing tables and chairs was taking them hours. 

“Annabeth, that table is over one hundred dollars.”  Annabeth blinked at him, she was embarrassed it took her a few seconds to understand the problem with the price. “Oh, yeah, sorry.”

“But I mean, if you want it, we can buy it.” They looked at each other, that had been another thing they hadn’t taken in consideration about their furniture shopping.  While she barely saw the price tag on stuff, Percy grew up on a budget and even now that he had a nice steady salary, he had trouble spending money on stuff he didn’t find necessary, after all he only bought new shoes when his old ones fell apart, literally. They were learning how to navigate around each other’s bank accounts and each other’s feelings.

Her trust fund hadn’t come up until they had been dating for a while and Annabeth was starting to toy with the idea of buying an apartment, Percy had laughed when she had told him about wanting to buy a place, telling her how she would end up drowning in debt, he hadn’t laughed when she told him she could afford to buy an apartment and the whole complex.  

“I can’t believe you crazy rich asian-ed me.” Percy had said when he found out about her trust fund and her family’s background.

“I did not crazy rich asian you! I thought you knew!”

“I didn’t! I knew Piper was wealthy and you could afford a comfortable life! I just didn’t think you were some kind of lost Norwegian Princess.”

“Just because I have some kind of royal blood it doesn’t mean I’m a princess!”

Percy stared at her. “You do realize you just used _royal blood_ , right? Wait… are you in line to the throne, can you be a queen!?

“Around twenty people have to die but since I’m an American and this is not the Princess Diaries. Not really.”

“Do you own a tiara? If you do don’t tell Tellie because she is never going to let it go, she already thinks you’re some kind of Disney princess.” Percy gasped. “Wait does this make you Rapunzel? Am I Eugene?” He tried to do a smolder at her only to fail miserably and trying his best not to laugh, Annabeth threw a pillow at him, making him laugh and chase her around the house with another pillow.  

Overall Percy had taken the news well, she had been a little afraid of something changing between them but by the end of that day he was still Percy and she was still Annabeth and they were still _them_.

“You know what?” Percy said, bringing her back to the present. “I think this works with the tables we got at Ikea.” He was holding a stuffed talking fish to mount on the wall.

“That is the ugliest shit you have showed me and if you buy that, I’m not joking Percy, I will kick you out of the house.”

Percy laughed and put down the fish where he had found it. “Joking! I’m gonna get it for Leo at some point though.”

Annabeth just shook her head at him before keep going on down the aisle. “Did Jason reply to you?”

“Yeah, we’re going to pick up the couch tomorrow after work.” Percy showed her a table and she shook her head. “Frank and Leo said they can also come after work and help with the unpacking, Hazel has a late shift but she’s probably going to stop by another day.”

“Your mom called me, apparently your grandma has some fine china she wants to give us.”

Percy whistled. “If granny is willing to pass on her fine china to us that means she has more than approved of you.”

“That’s good, right?” Annabeth blushed.

“That’s excellent, my family loves you and adores you.”

“Good, because I love them too.” Annabeth wasn’t lying, it had shocked her how easily his family accepted her into their life, his grandma usually sent her chocolates she made specifically for her and Percy’s sister always wanted to hang out with them, they usually had dinner with his family at least once a month and Annabeth usually left the Jackson-Blofis house with a full tummy and a happy heart. “What if we call it a day on the furniture and go and pick some bed sheets? We still need to choose some and buy food, our fridge is so empty it’s sad.”

“Yeah, how am I supposed to be a good tenant and make you food if there’s no food at home.”

“You’re getting us Dunkin again tomorrow?”

“Babe, for you? I would get us Dunkin every day.”

“That’s the most romantic thing you have ever said to me.”

Percy laughed and took the shopping cart from her hands. “That’s a fucking lie and you know it.”

“Maybe.” She kissed his cheek before walking towards the bed sheet aisle. “Come on, after this, I’m getting us falafel for dinner.”

“And that’s the most romantic thing you have ever said to me.”

*** 

“Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“For a new batch of fresh chickens? I can’t wait!” Piper took a sip of her coke. “That didn’t sound right, did it?”

“It sounds like you’re going to make chicken nuggets, not have a new class of first graders.”

“Right, but they _are_ my little chickens.” Piper bit a piece of her pretzel. “And I will teach them to be the best chickens they can be.”

It was a warm Sunday morning and they were at the outlets eating pretzels for breakfast, sitting at their favorite table, watching the _Blue Truffle_  window where their boys where working on chocolate covered apples, getting ready for opening time. It had been one week since Annabeth had officially moved into her new place and while she and Piper texted and called each other daily, it was the first time since their trip it was just the two of them hanging out and Annabeth couldn’t believe how much she missed her.

“You’re glowing, how do you look even prettier than usual? Is life without me that good?” While Annabeth had been joking with the last comment, she hadn’t been lying about Piper looking amazing. Her long dark hair was blowing in the light morning breeze, her teal tank top making her skin glow.

“It’s the daily sex, babe.” Piper winked at her. “Now that we don’t have to worry about you walking in on us or hearing us…well, Jason and I have been really busy, but I guess you and Percy are the same.”

“Percy and I have been pretty busy…you know, putting together chairs and tables, moving stuff around, making sure our apartment is complete.” Annabeth took a long sip of her coke, enjoying the coldness against the warm morning. “Unfortunately it’s not the fun busy type.”

“Yeah, you look tired as hell.”

“Stupid Ikea’s chairs,” Annabeth mumbled. “They shouldn’t be that fucking hard to put together, I’m a fucking architect Piper, an architect!”

“On the plus side if you and Percy didn’t break up after putting Ikea furniture together, you two are good to go, you guys should marry already, nothing can break you two up.” Piper dipped her pretzel in Annabeth’s cheese dip, ignoring Annabeth’s hand trying to slap hers away. “But you also look happy, really happy.”

“Percy makes me happy.”

“Ugh, look at you being all romantic and in love.”

“Says the girl that is literally glowing from living with her boyfriend for a week.”

“Yeah, but this glow is going to disappear tomorrow exactly five minutes after I see my new class.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Piper sighed. “It’s weird not having you around. I miss your dog.”

“Latte misses you so much, he keeps running towards me every time I put you on speaker.” She started playing with her pretzel. “Thank you for taking him out for walks while I was at work.”

“I did it more for me than for you.” Piper took a long sip of her coke. “Thank you for giving back me some of the lamps.”

“Yeah, I did it more for me than you.”

“Fair enough.”

While Annabeth had gone back to work the Monday after their trip and having to catch up to three weeks work of projects, Percy, being the child of his boss, had more freedom around his schedule, and he, with the help of Jason and Piper, who was still on summer break, had been unpacking all week in their free time. Piper had also taken Latte on walks since Annabeth and Percy had been extra tired from the moving and work.

“So…dinner at least once a week?” Piper said and Annabeth nodded.

“And brunch one weekend of the month.”

“And that’s outside our monthly dinners with Leo.” Piper sighed. “So tonight is going to be dinner at Ruby’s while the boys play video games?”

“It’s a date, babe.” One thing Annabeth and Piper had agreed on, once Annabeth had given her the news she was moving out, was that they were going to have some days to hang out just the two of them. They were each other’s best friends and one of the most important people in each other’s life. It was weird scheduling dinner plans, when before they just went out whenever they were filling like it, but it also it helped them with the weirdness of not living together after seven years of being roommates. “We’re going to have our housewarming party next Saturday.”

“Do you want me to make the cheese dip?”

“See, McLean? This is why I love you.”

“Fun fact, I’m your real soulmate, Percy who?”

“I’m sure Percy already knows that, he told me he’s already expecting you to crash at our place at some point and he’ll end up sleeping in the guest room,” Annabeth took the last sip of her coke.

“Yeah, I already warned Jason that you and I are totally going to have sleepovers.”

“Good.” Annabeth collected her trash and was about to throw it away when something caught her eye. “We never got your picture with the massive bear, did we?”

Piper also looked towards the bench where the bear was happily sitting, next to him, across the window, Jason was dipping the apples in blue colored sugar. “No, I don’t think we did.”

“Go and pose next to it.”

“Oh my god, Annabeth.” Piper threw their trash away. “Are you serious?”

“Of course I am! Come on, we need to capture your glow before it goes away.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Piper laughed but still started walking towards the bear, Annabeth could see her blowing a kiss to Jason, before sitting next to bear. Jason looked at them confusion clear on his face, Annabeth waved him off, making him 1shake his head, but she could still see the fond way he looked at Piper before walking towards the back of the store, carrying the finished apples and leaving the bowl full of sugar on the counter he had been working on.

Opening the camera on her phone, she said to Piper. “Say sugar!”

“ _Sugar_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the story is complete! Thank you so much for sticking with me all this time! I hope you guys enjoyed the story as much as I loved writing it! 
> 
> Sugar, Sugar wouldn't exist without Lauren, she did not only beta it, but she is the reason this story existed in the first place, massive shout to Juliana (Joleanart on Tumblr) for giving me the idea of making it a multichapter fic! To GG, Vianca and Lily, thank you so much for letting me throw ideas at you and lastly, to my Keylime Pie (you can find her as kartsie on tumblr) for throwing fanart my way and be the reason I went back to work on the epilogue, you have no idea how much your art mean to me. Thank you so much.
> 
> And lastly, to every person who commented, left kuddos and bookmarked. Thank you, thank you! Thank you! You guys can find me in tumblr under this same name <3
> 
> Title and most chapter titles come from the song "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally called Chocolate Love and it was supposed to be a small Jasiper fic but after talking to Joleanart on tumblr, who gave me a few plot ideas, the short Jasiper drabble became a Percabeth and Jasiper story.
> 
> I recommend you reading Chocolate Love on my tumblr (percyyoulittleshit) if you want to see the beginning of the story from Piper’s POV, just ignore the times Percy is mentioned since that plot changed.


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